Testing of BTK railway to start in January 2017

Testing of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway will start on January 1, 2017, governor of Turkey’s Kars province Rahmi Dogan said, Turkish media outlets reported Nov. 8.

Dogan said the second phase of the project is expected to start after commissioning of its first phase.

“The BTK railway project will contribute to the development of our region and the growth in exports of the countries involved,” said Dogan.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. It is planned to be commissioned in early 2017.

The peak capacity of the railway will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo. (Trend.az)