TRIPP to boost capacity of Middle Corridor, says Turkish minister

The Zangezur Corridor, also known as the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), will increase the capacity of the Middle Corridor, Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Kanal7.

According to Uraloglu, alongside efforts to unlock the potential of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) railway, steps are being taken to utilise the route connecting western Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR).

He highlighted the start of construction of a 224-kilometre railway from Kars to the border with NAR, noting that, unlike the BTK, the Kars–Dilucu line (at the NAR border) will be double-tracked, allowing for greater freight capacity.

Uraloglu also pointed out that Azerbaijan continues to restore and modernise its transport infrastructure, with most of the work already completed. “We also expect construction on the Armenian section of the Zangezur Corridor to begin soon,” the minister added.

The Middle Corridor, or Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, is a multimodal trade and logistics network connecting China to Europe via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye, bypassing Russia and Iran. 

The corridor’s “first line” runs through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, with key nodes like Baku’s Alat port and Tbilisi’s rail hubs. The proposed “second line” incorporates Armenia, leveraging the TRIPP corridor through Armenia's Syunik to link Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave and Türkiye, potentially extending to Armenian rail connections with Georgia and Azerbaijan.

By Khagan Isayev