Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The work under the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project is being carried out in accordance with the schedule and it is slated for completion in 2014, Azerbaijan Railways JSC's head Arif Asgarov told journalists on October 13.

Asgarov also said Azerbaijan Railways plans to complete the modernization and renovation of the 317 km Baku-Boyuk Kesik section by the end of 2013.

"So far 282 kilometers of the railway in the western direction have been repaired, and it is planned that the project will be completed by the end of the year," Asgarov said.

Azerbaijan, which lacks rail carriage repair technology, earlier sent about 60 carriages to the Voronezh repair shop in neighboring Russia, 46 of which were delivered back after a complete overhaul. The carriages were launched on the Baku-Tbilisi, Baku-Moscow and Baku-Kharkiv lines.

Earlier, deputy head of Azerbaijan Railways Gurban Nazirov said that in the framework of the renovation of the railcar depot 100 new carriages are to be purchased. Also, 50 locomotives are to be bought to transport cargo along with 12 locomotives for passenger transportation.

Moreover, Asgarov said the total number of illegal constructions in the territory of ​​the railways is 2,800, 538 of which are non-residential and the other buildings are residential ones. A decision regarding the issue will be taken by the government.

Azerbaijan Railways, the state-owned railway transport operator, ranks 57th in the world for the length of railroads. About 72 percent or 2,117 kilometers of the total length of operated rail lines is used for cargo transportation and does not include industrial rail lines.