Azernews.Az

The first phase of the project to construct the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is in its final stage, the head of Azerbaijan Railways Arif Asgarov said on Wednesday during the fourth Congress of the Council of the International Confederation of Trade Unions of Railwaymen and Transport Builders in Baku, Trend news agency reported.

"The first section of the project involves work on the rehabilitation, reconstruction and construction of the 29.2 kilometres long Marabda-Tetritskaro segment," Asgarov said.

According to him, work is underway on the second phase of the project with the building of Akhalkalaki station and construction of the tunnel between Georgia and Turkey being launched within the third phase.

"The second stage involves work on the 49.7 km long Tetritskaro- Tsalka section, while the third stage is on the 74.1 km long Tsalka-Akhalkalaki section," the head of company said. "Intensive work is currently being carried out on the creation of a joint venture."

According to Asgarov, work on the creation of new rail road is planned to be completed in the first quarter of 2014. In addition, work is underway on building the Kars-Nakhchivan railroad.

The proposed 223-kilometer Kars-Nakhchivan route will connect Kars, Susuz, Diludzhu, and Nakhchivan.

Nakhchivan is in blockade because of Armenia's occupying 20 percent of neighboring Azerbaijan's territory. People arrive in the autonomous republic by air or by road through Iran.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe. Its throughput capacity will peak at 17 million tons of cargo per year. Initially, the capacity will be 6.5 million tons of consignments and 1 million passengers.

The railway will be fully commissioned in 2014, while a first test train from Azerbaijan to the Turkish border is planned to be dispatched by late 2012, Azerbaijan Railways chairman Arif Asgarov said earlier.