Baku–Tbilisi–Kars almost complete

Azeri news agency Trend is looking forward to the completion of the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is due to start operating in 2013. The Turkish segment of the rail track will most probably be finished this year. Excavation of the tunnel between Georgia and Turkey will continue and should be finished by the end of 2012. There were some difficulties during the construction which caused various rumours, but they are over now.

The railway construction started in 2008 but at the end of 2009, due to poor weather conditions the works were suspended temporarily; they resumed in May 2010. There were also some problems with the financing of the project.

Armenia was against the project, claiming that with the background of warming relations between Armenia and Turkey, Baku was not so eager to finish the construction. There are rumours also that the Kremlin is against construction continuing; however Baku has refuted these allegations.

From a technical point of view the biggest obstacle to the timely continuation of construction was the need to change the original route as a railway tunnel appeared to be in a landslide zone. This created extra difficulty and took extra time.