Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend E.Huseynly / The State Railway Department of Azerbaijan is considering two options of introducing speed trains to the country. The Deputy Transport Minister of Azerbaijan, Musa Panahov, said on 10 May that one of the options is using the existing railway infrastructure and the other is to construct new railways. The Transport Ministry of Azerbaijan plan to increase the speed on railways to 150 km/h.
The Transport Ministry of South Korea will assist Azerbaijan on this project within the guidelines of the recently signed Memorandum on Intentions. Firstly, the railway section from Baku-Boyuk-Kesik to the border of Georgia will be reconstructed and later, the section from Yalama to Astara.
At present, the railway from Baku-Boyuk Kesik to the Georgian border runs on a speed of 30 km/h and in several sections, 160 km/h. This is intended to be raised to 80 km/h in the first stage, gradually increasing to 150 km/h.
Using speed trains is part of the project intended to modernize the railway infrastructure from Baku - Boyuk Kesik to the Georgian border. The Transport Ministry considers that many sections of Azerbaijan railways are in need of improvement. The transport departments of Japan, Korea and France are interested in participating in this project.