Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.23
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Creation of a new Stadler car construction plant in Azerbaijan will not only make it possible to ensure the domestic demand of the country in railway cars, but also to establish their export, the head of Azerbaijan Railways Arif Asgarov told Trend.
He said that one of the main purposes of construction of the plant is the export of passenger cars in Iran, Central Asia and other countries.
"Construction of the new enterprise will take several years," said the head of the company. "The project of creation of a new plant is very important, as, along with the production of cars, it will make it possible to ensure their overhaul in the country."
The ceremony of laying the foundation of a new plant took place in October 2014. The ceremony was attended by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
Asgarov said that laying the plant was an important step towards the creation of this specialized enterprise in Azerbaijan.
Speaking about the renewal of the passenger rail cars fleet in the country, he said that earlier CJSC had already received about 85 passenger cars, which underwent the overhaul in Ukraine and Russia. Another batch of cars is on the overhaul at Dnepropetrovsk car repair plant.
Due to the lack of the necessary infrastructure in Azerbaijan for the overhaul of cars, Azerbaijan Railways CJSC currently sends them abroad, particularly to Russia and Ukraine.
The head of the company said that it is planned to get these cars by summer of 2015.
Azerbaijan Railways cooperates with Stadler also within the framework of the contract for the sale of 30 new passenger railroad cars signed in June this year. Supply of cars will be implemented by 2015.
The cars will be delivered to the republic before the commissioning of the new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is scheduled for 2015, designed to connect the railways of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The new cars will be fitted to the rapid replacement of the pair of wheels for movement on the European tracks.
Currently, the total length of the main railways in Azerbaijan is 2,898.9 kilometers, the length of operated railways is 2,068,1 kilometers, 802,3 kilometers of which account for double track railways. Some 1,240,2 kilometers, or 60 percent, are electrified of the total length of operated railways.
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