Launch of first cars on Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway scheduled for late 2014

The test launch of the first cars on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is scheduled for the end of 2014, said the chairman of "Azerbaijan Railways" CJSC Arif Askerov in the article published Oct.11 in the official press.

The line, which is designed to connect the railway systems of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, will fully be commissioned in 2015.

The total length of the railway tunnel on the border between Georgia and Turkey is 4,450 meters, of which 2,560 meters accounted for the territory of Turkey. The tunnel has already been constructed in Turkey. The length of the Georgian section of the tunnel is 2,070 meters. Construction of the Georgian section of the tunnel continues.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish inter-state agreement.

SOFAZ finances the project in accordance with the decree of the President of Azerbaijan 'On the implementation of the activities of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project' dated February 21, 2007.

It is planned to construct a new 105-kilometer branch of the railroad as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the railway's Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda section will be reconstructed in Georgia, which will increase its capacity to 15 million metric tons of cargo per year. It is planned to build a post in Akhalkalaki for the transition of trains from the existing tracks in Georgia to the European ones.

Peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million metric tons of cargo. This figure will be at the level of one million passengers and 6.5 million metric tons of cargo at the initial stage.
(Trend.az)