Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.13
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The preparation for the launch of the first test railcars up to the Georgian-Turkish border is being carried out within the framework of the establishment of new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, "Azerbaijan Railways" CJSC told Trend.
The launch of the first test cars is scheduled for autumn. The full line, which is designed to connect the railway systems of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, will be commissioned in 2015, the company said.
"The work is carried out in accordance with the schedule within this important project, and it is planned to launch the test cars," the source said.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish inter-state agreement.
Azerbaijan has allocated a loan worth $775 million for construction of the railway's Georgian section. Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) carries out the funding of the project in accordance with the decree of Azerbaijani president 'On the implementation of the project activities of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars' dated February 21, 2007.
It is planned to construct a new 105-kilometer branch of the railroad as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the railway's Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi section will be reconstructed in Georgia, which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is planned to build a post in Akhalkalaki for the transition of trains from the existing tracks in Georgia to the European ones.
The peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. This figure will be at the level of one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo at the initial stage.
The total length of the BTK is 826 kilometers (about 513 miles). After commissioning of the railway mutual trade between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will increase significantly, the total volume will exceed $ 10 billion per year.
Edited by CN
