Azernews.Az

BAKU - The opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will create favorable conditions for further strengthening of strategic partnership between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, the visiting Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said in Baku Tuesday.

Yildirim told the Coordinating Council of the railway project that the opening of this rail link would provide a link from Asia to Europe via the Caucasus and Turkey. Initially, 1 million passengers and 6 million tons of cargo are to be transported through the route annually. In the following years, the bulk of consignments is to be brought to 17m tons. China has already provided its preliminary consent to transport 10m tons a year via the railway.

Yildirim said the project is being implemented on schedule in the railway’s Turkish section. 34 percent of the work there has been done, with the figure expected to reach 75 percent by the end of 2010.

Azerbaijani Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov said opportunities have emerged to speed work on building the railway in neighboring Georgia.

"We sent about 25 additional new pieces of equipment to Georgia in the past few days. By the year-end 50 percent of the operations in the Georgian territory on building a new rail line and rehabilitating the old road is to be completed," Mammadov said.

According to the minister, overall completion of work on the $600 million project is planned for the end of 2011, while commissioning of the railway is due in mid-2012.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will revive the historic Silk Road trade route that once connected Asia with Europe. Construction of the railway began in November 2007. Azerbaijan earlier allocated a loan for the upgrade of the 149-km Georgian section of the railway, which includes building a new line and upgrade of existing infrastructure in the neighboring South Caucasus republic. In Turkey, a new, 76 km rail line is being built to connect the area bordering on Georgia with Kars.

The three host countries have cooperated so far within two large-scale energy projects – the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline.