Russia-Turkey railway deals

Russian railways announced that there will soon be a new ferry connection between the Russian port Kavkaz and the Turkish town of Samsun. New port facilities will be built in Samsun to receive trains from Russia and a special depot is being built for changing the wheels of carriages as Russian railways have wider tracks than those used in Turkey, which are of European standard. Special facilities are also being constructed to transfer cargo from trains onto trucks. Thus cargo from Russia could be transported via Turkey to Syria and Iran and probably also from Iran to Armenia. The Russian railways’ bosses plan to use the ferry connection from the Turkish port to supply the construction companies building the facilities for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games with materials as well as transporting its cold chemicals and textiles from Central Asia.