Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has inaugurated the new Bilajari locomotive depot in Baku, Azertag reported on November 19.

Azerbaijan Railways Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) Chairman Javid Gurbanov informed President Aliyev about the conditions created at the new locomotive depot.

Gurbanov noted that locomotives will be inspected and repaired in the new depot.

He stressed that the inauguration of such a depot in Azerbaijan (the first among the CIS countries) is a crucial step taken towards the transition to the 4th industrial revolution.

Gurbanov underlined that solar panels, as well as, necessary infrastructure and modern equipment manufactured by the world's leading companies had been installed in the depot.

The construction was carried out under the "Construction of two depots for 50 alternating locomotives - Bilajari and Ganja locomotive depots" project, Gurbanov said.

Some 38 modern Alstom locomotives, including freight and 10 passenger locomotives, have already been delivered to Azerbaijan, he added.

The depot will save energy, facilitate operation, increase the speed of trains and improve the efficiency of freight and passenger transportation, as well as boost the capacity of locomotives. The depot will employ about 150 highly qualified workers trained abroad, the Azerbaijan Railways chairman added.

Furthermore, the new Bilajari locomotive depot will also play an important role in modernizing the railway infrastructure.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan has implemented massive work in recent years to diversify the economy, develop the non-oil sector, as well as to carry out huge infrastructure and transport projects, despite the ongoing challenges brought by the pandemic.

Moreover, massive work has been carried out to improve and modernize the railway transport infrastructure and vehicle fleet, and to strengthen the material and technical base of the field in Azerbaijan.

The transportation projects further strengthen Azerbaijan’s geographical importance, as well as, its role in the region where the East-West, North-South transport corridors meet. The projects also significantly increase the country’s economic and transport-logistics potential.

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