Test launch of first cars on BTK railway scheduled for year-end
By Aynur Jafarova
The test launch of the first cars on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway (BTK) is scheduled for the end of 2014.
The news was announced by Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Closed Joint Stock Company Arif Askerov in his article published in the official press.
Being a regional rail link project that connects Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, the BTK railway is planned to be completed in late 2015.
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 was implemented after Azerbaijan's President issued a decree on the 'Implementation of measures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project', on February 21, 2007.
The total length of the BTK is 826 kilometers (about 513 miles). After commissioning the railway, mutual trade between Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey will increase significantly, the total volume exceeding $10 billion per year.