Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan can annually earn about $2.5 billion on cargo transportation, believes Javid Gurbanov, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Railways.

“In case we achieve transportation of 50 million tons of cargo per year through the country's territory, then earning about $50 per ton, we will receive $2.5 billion revenue per year,” he said.

However, the railway chief noted that this process requires years, as it’s necessary to attract world’s attention to Azerbaijan.

Speaking about the freight increase from neighboring countries, Gurbanov noted that the relevant negotiations are already underway with Turkmenistan.

“The main route [of supplies] to Europe for Turkmenistan runs through Azerbaijan and Georgia. Now nearly two million tons of Turkmen oil passes through our country, but we have the possibility to increase the transit of Turkmen goods through Azerbaijan. We are negotiating with Turkmenistan in this regard. Delivering Turkmen products to foreign markets through Iran is unprofitable for the country due to complex topography of the country. That’s why they are interested in supply of oil and oil products through the territory of Azerbaijan. In turn, we can enter the Afghan market through Turkmenistan,” Gurbanov explained.

He further stressed that Azerbaijan is a very safe country, which very valuable in the cargo transportation. “Azerbaijan does not face with terrorism, the Interior Ministry and other state agencies work well. We have stability, what means that freight can be carried without fear through Azerbaijan,” he said.

The railway chief went on to say that for the development of transportation sector in Azerbaijan, it’s necessary to continue the modernization of road infrastructure, upgrade trains, increase their carrying capacity, or replace them with diesel and electric locomotives.

“It is also necessary to revise the tax code, and as you know, the president has already given the appropriate order. We need to broaden the tax base and, at the same time to put in order the customs sphere and maybe conduct customs reforms,” he added.

Azerbaijani Railways does not see the need to acquaint new freight trains, according to Gurbanov.

“Currently, we have about 6,000 or 7,000 trains that provide transportation within the country. Now we have the ability to carry out approximately 25 million tons of freight [per year]. Previously, we did not have enough trains and we paid other countries [for rent] $7 million per year. But now the situation is different and already they rent [our trains],” the company’s chairman emphasized.

Gurbanov also touched upon the opening of the Baku Railway Station, which according to him will be in December.

Also, ticket sale will be carried out by ASAN service that will provide these services at the station’s building.

He also mentioned that it is planned to introduce a new “ASAN Qatar” system in the country, which stands for offering services in trains.

Gurbanov also spoke about the opening of a high-speed railway Baku-Ganja route, which is expected to launch until the end of 2017.

The speed of trains in this direction will be 100-140 kilometers per hour. “We do not have the possibility to run trains at a speed of 400-500 km/h on this route. Estimated speed of these trains will be 100-140 km/h.,” he explained.

Regarding the fares, the head of the company said that the cost will be about 15 manats ($9).

The launch of such trains is expected to reduce the travel time to Ganja, the second largest city of Azerbaijan, to 3-3.5 hours.

For this end, the company is planning to purchase new double-deck trains from Stadler Rail Group and put them to operation next year.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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