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New railway service Baku-Tbilisi-Kars to be commissioned in late 2012

Business Materials 13 October 2011 14:09 (UTC +04:00)
The new railway service Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, which will connect Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey’s railway systems, will be commissioned in late 2012, head of CJSC "Azerbaijani Railways" Arif Asgerov said on Thursday.
New railway service Baku-Tbilisi-Kars to be commissioned in late 2012

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.13 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /

The new railway service Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, which will connect Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey's railway systems, will be commissioned in late 2012, head of CJSC "Azerbaijani Railways" Arif Asgerov said on Thursday.

"At present, work within the project is being carried out in accordance with the schedule," Asgerov said.

He said the railway is designed for both freight trains and passenger trains.

"Azerbaijani Railways has already appealed to the Spanish company TALKO to purchase passenger trains," Asgerov said.

According to Asgerov, TALKO is the only company engaged in manufacture of passenger trains which do not require wheelpair change when moving to the European railway track.
The railway Baku-Tbilisi-Kars will be constructed based on a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement.

Azerbaijan allocated a loan worth $775 million for the construction of the Georgian section. This project is financed by the State Oil Fund according to the Azerbaijani president's decree "On realization of measures on Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project" dated February 21, 2007.

A new 105-kilometer railroad branch will be constructed as a part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway. About 76 kilometers will stretch via Turkey, and 29 kilometers through Georgia. Moreover, an Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway section will be reconstructed in Georgia to increase transport capacity to up to 15 million tons of cargo per year. A point of train transition from the existing train tracks in Georgia to the European one is planned to be built in Akhalkalaki.

The construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway will be completed during the first half of 2012, Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov told Trend earlier. The corridor is expected to be fully commissioned in early 2013.

The corridor's peak capacity will hit 17 million tons. Initially, its capacity will reach 1 million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

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