Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway and Baku-Nakhchivan-Kars Highway

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway and the Zangezur corridor will jointly increase the region's transit capacity by creating a unified network supporting trade flows. This was stated by the Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Rovshan Rustamov, as reported by Report.

According to him, the BTC railway, as the main freight line between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, plays a vital role in the regional transport system.

According to Rustamov, during the first nine months of this year, 296 block trains, including 113 transit trains, were received from China along the middle corridor. This number significantly exceeds the 213 trains recorded in the same period last year.

On October 1, the heads of the railways of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding “On the organization of cargo transportation via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.” The document outlines joint steps for the development of the BTC railway route as a faster, more sustainable and competitive transport link. In particular, priority areas include improving infrastructure, renewing rolling stock and optimizing operational procedures. In addition, according to the document, coordination between the three countries will be strengthened in order to develop the Middle Corridor, improving infrastructure and operational efficiency will continue, and preparing for increasing cargo volumes will be enhanced.

For your information: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is considering the Zangezur Corridor project along with the possibility of investing in Georgian ports. According to his assessment, the Baku-Nakhichevan-Kars highway will join the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway and, together with Georgian seaports, will create additional opportunities for increasing freight traffic.

In addition, project manager Osman Beserek states that the railway project between Kars, Igdir in Turkey, and Nakhichevan in Azerbaijan is already at the implementation stage, which will be integrated with the BTC railway in the future. The Nakhichevan-Igdir route will reduce the travel time to Kars to 85 minutes, and with the final integration with the BTC, the time for transporting passengers between Central Asia and Europe will be reduced from 18 to 12 days. After commissioning, trains will be able to travel at speeds of up to 160 km/h on the railway line.

Additional information:

The “Zangezur Corridor” is the Horadiz-Zangelan road, which can be extended to the border checkpoint with Armenia, considering this issue closed,” said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whose signed document indicates the “Trump Road,” the TRIPP route.

Source: bpn.ge; ge.armradio.am