BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 27. The European Investment Bank (EIB) completed a 10-month assignment helping Azerbaijan improve railway safety and reliability, Trend reports via the EIB.
The EIB’s advisory support, the first one completed under the Facility for Eastern Partnership Investment in Connectivity (EPIC), resulted in recommendations that will guide Azerbaijan Railways in a project to improve operational safety while reducing travels times, costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
The advisory support helped Azerbaijan Railways in enhancing safety at existing level crossings along the important Baku-Boyuk Kesik rail route, which is a 503-kilometre line that links the capital city and Port of Baku with the rail network of neighbouring Georgia and continues to the Black Sea. It is part of the core TEN-T network in Azerbaijan and serves as an important link, especially for cargo transport, along the “Middle Corridor”.
As a part of the assignment, EIB and Azerbaijan Railways teams worked closely together to identify level-crossings of high-risk for potential grade separation. With the EPIC support, Azerbaijan Railways also identified the most critical locations of uncontrolled livestock and pedestrian crossings along the line. The Project Identification Report based on the EIB advisory assignment will play an important role in the decision-making process related to these level crossings and next phase of the project. In addition, the successfully completed task is related to Middle Corridor, which is a priority for Azerbaijan and Eurasia region. The projects in the rail sectors included in this corridor connecting China with the EU through Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye are vital in the medium and long term perspective.
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