Alstom announces delivery date of first cargo locomotive for BTK
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By Naila Huseynli
In September, the first freight contract for the French Alstom for the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway (BTK), which was presented at the end of June in Astana, will be shipped from Kazakhstan.
Delivery of the locomotive in Baku is planned by the end of 2018, however, Alstom expects the decisions of the Azerbaijan Railways on this issue, reported company representative.
The first passenger locomotive Alstom for BTK is already in Baku.
Earlier, Alstom presented its first Prima T8 AZ8A cargo electric locomotive for Azerbaijan. The presentation of the locomotive was held at the electric locomotive plant (EKZ) located on the territory of the "Astana" Special Economic Zone.
The first AZ8A locomotive became part of the contract signed by the EKZ with the Azerbaijan Railways in 2014 and providing for the delivery of 50 locomotives, including 10 passenger locomotives Prima M4 AZ4A. The Z8A is a heavy cargo locomotive from the Prima T8 series, based on the KZ8A locomotive currently in service in Kazakhstan. AZ8A is designed for operation at temperatures from -25 to 50 degrees C.
The locomotive is designed in accordance with the specific technical requirements presented by the company ARW Company, and also complies with GOST and TU. The Prima T8 is one of the most powerful electric locomotives in the world. This locomotive consists of two sections and is capable of pulling the train up to 9,000 tons, developing a speed of up to 120 km per hour, with an installed engine capacity of 8.8 megawatts.
Earlier, the head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov said that passenger transportation by Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will begin in 2019.
According to the head of the CJSC, they will start after receiving passenger trains ordered from Stadler.
The opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was held on October 30, 2017 in the Baku International Sea Trade Port.
The BTK railroad was built on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish interstate agreement. At the initial stage, the volume of cargo transportation will be at the level of 6.5 million tons of cargo, and up to one million passengers will be transported.