The first container train along the route Poti-Baku-Aktau-Almati arrived in Baku on 25 December 2005 from the port of Poti, the Azerbaijan State Railway (ASR) told Trend.
В"The container train of 26 wagons will be a promotion action thanks to which starting with 2006 the freight traffic along the TRACECA corridor will increase considerably. One of the containers is transported to Kazakhstan, the other- to Turkmenistan, 24 are in Baku. The train will operate on a regular basis вЂ" 2 times weekly”, the ASR spokesman said.
The demonstration train launching ceremony was held on 24 December 2005 in Poti. Azerbaijan was represented at the ceremony by the ASR delegation headed by the ASR chairman Arif ASkerov.
The Bulgarian side is interested in joining the ports of Varna and Burgas the project.
The project will facilitate the growth of the TRACECA corridor competitiveness and development of ferry container traffic.
For increasing the route’s attractiveness Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan agreed on introducing identical tariffs for container cargo transportation along the corridor. The price per 1 ton/km of freight is $0,022.