BTK, shortest corridor to link Europe to Asia
By Aynur Jafarova
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is the shortest transport
corridor that will link Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime
Minister Abid Sharifov said on Nov.28.
He made the remarks during the international research workshop
titled ‘The future of transport and logistics in Central Eurasia’
at Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy.
Sharifov said the timeframe for cargo transportation is one of the
most important issues in the transport sector, adding that the
commissioning of the new railway will allow to significantly reduce
the transportation time between Europe and Asia.
“This railway is of great importance not only for Azerbaijan, but
also for the other countries involved in this project,” he
said.
The prospective regional railway link with a total length of 826 kilometers (about 513 miles) that connects Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey remains open for other countries.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Transport Minister Musa Panahov told journalists on November 28 that Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are working over the development of an agreement on organization of railway transportations.
The work is underway within the framework of the project of constructing a new railway from Afghanistan to Turkmenistan with its further connection to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line.
It is believed that this will create favorable conditions for transporting cargo from Afghanistan and vice versa
Azerbaijan, located at the intersection of international transport corridors such as East-West and North-South and with a favorable geographical position, has repeatedly proposed the interested countries to join the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project.
Earlier, Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov said the countries interested in this project can join the trilateral intergovernmental agreement signed between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia in 2007
Currently, India and Pakistan, as well as Afghanistan and Kazakhstan show great interest in participating and joining the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which makes the transport line quite prospective.
Being a major economic hub in the region, Azerbaijan has allocated a $775 million loan to the construction of the Georgian section of the railway.
Financed by Azerbaijan's state oil fund SOFAZ, the project has been implemented after Azerbaijan's President issued a decree on the 'Implementation of measures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project', on February 21, 2007.
Azerbaijan plans to complete the implementation of the project in 2015 and to launch a test work train by late 2014.
The volume of cargo transportation via this railway is expected to hit three million metric tons within three years of operation, and exceed five million metric tons and 10 million metric tons respectively within five to ten years of operation.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line is effective from an economic point of view, stable, secure and fully complies with environmental standards. It means the beginning of a new stage in the transport development. This railway line will expand the multi-modal transportation opportunities and ensure the growth of passenger and freight transportation.
It is believed that commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line will open a transport corridor that will connect Beijing and London.