Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

After completion of construction of the part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway in the territory of Turkey, the project of joining the line of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic will be started, said Gurban Piriyev, the Head of the Georgian branch of "Azeryolservice" Open Joint Stock Company of the Azerbaijani Transport Ministry.

He said the Azerbaijan and Georgia stretches of the railway, construction of which started in 2007, is ready for use. The construction of the Turkish part of the road will be completed by the end of this year.

Then, the railway of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is expected to join the BTK.

This project will play an important role in the economic development of the Autonomous Republic.

Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the base of Georgia-Azerbaijan-Turkish interstate agreement. The project is funded by the Azerbaijani State Oil Foundation in accordance with the country’s head decree “Realization of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project” since February 21, 2007.

As part of the project, a new 105 km branch of the railway line is being constructed.

Moreover, the Akhalkalaki-Marabda -Tbilisi railway section is reconstructed which increases its capacity up to 15 million tons of cargo per a year.

A post transferring trains from a track in Georgia to Europe is being constructed in Akhalkalaki.

The project is expected to be finished in 2015. And the launch of the first test train is planned by the end of the year.

The capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons per a year. At the initial stage, the figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line is effective from an economic point of view. It is stable, and secure fully complying with environmental standards. It means the beginning of a new stage in the transport development.

This railway line will expand the multi-modal transportation opportunities and ensure the growth of passenger and freight transportation.