Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to be commissioned in 2014

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be fully commissioned in 2014, Azerbaijani Deputy Transport Minister Musa Panahov told journalists on April 3.

He said at present construction work continues at an active pace both in Georgia and Turkey.

«Work within the project continues in order to commission the railway next year,» Panahov said.

Creation of a new rail link envisages the construction, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Marabda-Akhalkalaki railway section, except the station, as well as the construction work from Akhalkalaki to the Turkish border (Kartsakhi).

The reconstruction of the Marabda-Akhalkalaki section includes work in a three phases: section -Marabda Tetritskaro - 29.2 kilometre, section of Tetritskaro-Tsalka - 49.7 kilometres and Tsalka-Akhalkalaki-- 74.1 kilometres.

Construction of a new 105-kilometre railway section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project is planned. Azerbaijan allocated a loan worth $775 million to construct the Georgian section. The State Oil Fund finances this project in accordance with a presidential decree on the «Implementation of measures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project», dated Feb.21, 2007.

The corridor's peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo. This figure will be at the level of one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo in its initial stages.

Adapted from Worldbulletin