BTK rail line being expanded To attract more freight to Middle Corridor /PHOTO

Necessary measures are being taken to accelerate the pace of construction and expansion carried out on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line in order to increase the potential of freight transportation.

The Azerbaijan Railways CJSC has involved new contractors to accelerate repair, reconstruction and construction work and complete the project in the shortest possible time on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway section (183 km long) passing through Georgia, with difficult geographical terrain, Caliber.Az reports per the CJSC.  

It should be noted that the repair and rehabilitation work on the Marabda-Kartsakhi section of the said railway line, originally commissioned in 2017, was launched as part of the measures to improve the road facilities, increase the line capacity and traffic safety. As a result, the ongoing work will play an important role in bringing more cargo from China and Central Asia to Europe.

Thus, the faster delivery of cargo from Asia to Europe with just one transhipment operation through Azerbaijan underscores the importance of the BTK in the regional transport network.

At present, the lines are fully electrified, construction of the railway line is largely complete, and final work on power supply, installation of communication and signalling equipment, administrative buildings for station employees, and modern auxiliary communications is being carried out at 12 stations.

In order to complete the work as soon as possible, freight traffic on the line has been temporarily limited since mid-May.

The 826 kilometer-long BTK line links Azerbaijan’s railway network to the railroad grid of Türkiye and enables an easier and faster rail connection between China, Central Asia, and Europe. Starting in Baku, trains on BTK rails cut through Georgia’s capital Tbilisi towards the final destination of Kars in northeast Türkiye.

A 504-kilometer portion of BTK passes through Azerbaijan, while Georgia and Türkiye are home to 263-kilometer and 79-kilometer sections of the railroad, respectively.

Baku-Tbilisi-Kars also forms part of a 5,000-kilometer-long Middle Corridor stretching from the northwestern Edirne province of Türkiye to the Katonkaragay district on the eastern edge of Kazakhstan.