Baku, Azerbaijan, March 14
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran are considering the possibilities of connecting their railways, Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov said on March 14, after the meeting of the three countries' foreign ministers in Van (Turkey).
The issue of connecting Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) and Nakhchivan-Julfa-Tabriz railways was also discussed during the meeting of Azerbaijani, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers, according to the minister.
The implementation of projects and the establishment of a railway communication between Asian countries will allow creation of the Great Silk Road railway and allow the transportation of goods from Beijing to London, Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu stressed that the Marmaray rail tunnel constructed under the Bosphorus strait and commissioned in October 2013, will also play an important role in this process.
Completion of the construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway that will connect Azerbaijan and Turkey is scheduled for mid 2015.
Plans are to construct a new 105 kilometer branch of the railway. Moreover, the Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda railway in Georgia will be reconstructed, which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. Construction of a station for transporting trains from the existing tracks in Georgia to the European one is also planned.
The peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. This figure will be at the level of one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo at the initial stage.
Translated by L.Z.
Edited by C.N.