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BTK railway contributes to development of region [UPDATE/PHOTO]

21 February 2018 11:56 (UTC+04:00)
BTK railway contributes to development of region [UPDATE/PHOTO]

By Sara Israfilbayova

Vienna hosted International Railway Business Forum “Strategic Partnership 1520: Central Europe” on February 20-22.

Within the framework of the event, a plenary session entitled as Eurasia Corridor and the New Silk Road, which discusses the possibilities for improving the speed and quality of the railway transit service on the East-West route, was held.

The delegation of the Azerbaijan Railway, led by its chairman Javid Gurbanov, participated in the event.

Igbal Huseynov, deputy chairman of the Azerbaijani Railways, said at the forum that this event is of great importance in expanding the strategic partnership, stressing that Azerbaijan is located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and actively participates in the implementation of international projects.

In the course of his visit to Vienna, Gurbanov held a meeting with with Andreas Mate, director general of Austrian Railways JSC.

The meeting discussed the possibilities of transporting goods along the BTK railway route from China to Europe and vice versa.

Gurbanov noted that Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and India show interest in connecting to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line.

He provided detailed information on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), the North-South and South-West transport corridors, in particular the BTK railway, which was opened in October last year.

It was noted that this railway will connect Asia with Europe. The BTK facilitates the interconnection of the Trans-European and Trans-Asian railway networks, direct access of cargo and passengers to Europe and Asia through the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and will ensure the growth of the transit potential of the countries of the region.

In turn, Andreas Mate highly appreciated the work carried out in Azerbaijan to expand the transport and logistics capabilities of the country, the commissioning of the BTK railway and the opening of other international transport corridors.

Gurbanov also held a meeting with his Russian counterpart Oleg Belozerov to discuss the development of transportation and tariffs in the directions of Samur-Akhalkalaki and Samur-Astara, according to the message of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC.

“Within the framework of the meeting, the further development of the western section of the North-South international transport corridor, issues of cargo and passenger transportation in the directions of Samur-Astara and Samur-Akhalkalaki, as well as tariff conditions and other issues were discussed,” the message said.

The North-South corridor is one of the priority international transport projects for Azerbaijan, according to Gurbanov.

The Azerbaijani side fulfilled its obligations as soon as possible: at the moment, the construction of the railway station and the unloading terminal on the territory of 35 hectares in Iranian Astara is already being completed.

In the coming months the Astara (Azerbaijan) - Astara (Iran) international railway is expected to be commissioned. The other day, the first test train consisting of six wagons, which arrived from Russia, was already launched on this line.

In his turn, Belozerov highly appreciated the work done by the Azerbaijani side within the framework of the North-South project. It is necessary to mobilize all forces to attract cargo traffic to this route, according to the head of Russian Railways.

The International North-South Transport Corridor, a 7,200 kilometer-long freight route connecting India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship, rail and road, is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. The main objective of the INSTC is to provide an alternative to the traditional routes carried out by sea through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea.

At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 5 million tons of cargo per year through the corridor and more than 10 million tons of cargo in the future.

“Strategic Partnership 1520” forum is organized by ‘Business Dialogue’ company and its key partners, ÖBB Holding AG and Russian Railways.

The key theme of the event is the possibility of improving the speed and quality of railway transit traffic on the East - West route. A range of sessions dealing with issues of international logistics, financing and construction of railway infrastructure, improve technological interoperability 1520 and 1435 were organized within the business program.

The forum involved over 250 delegates from 24 countries, including heads of national railway companies of countries using ‘wide’ and ‘narrow’ railway tracks, international specialized organizations and the banking sector.

"Strategic partnership 1520" is an international business forum that aims to coordinate the efforts of the players of the transport market of Eurasia on the formation of a complete infrastructure of international transport corridors, creation of the most comfortable environment for movement of passengers and goods.

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BTK railway contributes to development of region [UPDATE/PHOTO] - Gallery Image
BTK railway contributes to development of region [UPDATE/PHOTO] - Gallery Image
BTK railway contributes to development of region [UPDATE/PHOTO] - Gallery Image
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