Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be fully operational in 2017
Tweet 
Share
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, which facilitates the transport of passengers and goods between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, will be fully commissioned at the beginning of 2017.
Today at the trilateral session of the Coordination Council on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, high officials from the three countries confirmed the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway "will become fully operational” next year.
The seventh session was held in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.
Georgia has already built its section of the $775 million railway line and began testing passenger and cargo trains last year.
Now Azerbaijan and Turkey must complete construction on their respective sections.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway route was complex, said Azerbaijan's Minister of Transport Ziya Mammadov today.
Tbilisi hosted the trilateral session of the Coordination Council on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project today. Photo by Georgia's Ministry of Economy.
He added the overall cost of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project was expected to increase about $150-$170 million above the estimated $775 million total cost.
Materials have gone up in price following global economic changes. The issue of cost will be studied and the results will be submitted to the [Azerbaijani] government,” he said.
Meanwhile Turkey’s Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication Binali Yıldırım promised his country would fully complete the construction on its railway section by the end of 2016.
Ten years ago high officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey agreed to jointly implement the railway project to facilitate transportation of passengers and goods, principally oil.
The project to connect Baku with Kars via Georgia’s capital Tbilisi by rail launched in 2007 and construction began in 2008.
Once the railway was fully operational, all three countries will mutually benefit from improved trade and economic relations and gain additional Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) through the new railway connecting Europe and Asia.
Georgia has completed building its section of the $600 million USD Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project.
Construction of the $600 million USD Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be fully completed before November 2016, offering immense benefits to the three countries involved.
Azerbaijan is intending to put 30 new passenger carriages into operation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway corridor that connects Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
The first test train is set to begin operating on the new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project later today.
A pilot train is set to test the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad that links Azerbaijan with Turkey via Georgia before the end of the year, announced Georgia’s Prime Minister at a special business forum today.
Azerbaijani Railways OJSC intends to put new passenger carriages into operation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route.
Tbilisi is gearing up to host the fifth trilateral meeting between Georgian, Turkish and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers on February 19.
The first ever professionally completed map of the historic railway line linking Georgia with Azerbaijan and Turkey has been published to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the Georgian national railway.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili addressed the participants of the 5th Global Baku Forum in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku today.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway, an important section in the middle of the modern Silk Road, will soon be fully commissioned, increasing connectivity among Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
The first freight train from Azerbaijan will run to Turkey through Georgia in about two months – the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway project is nearing the completion.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has thanked the Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili for his contribution to the successful implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project facilitating the transport of passengers and goods between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
At the opening ceremony in Baku Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated that the railway would "change the current economic reality, providing totally new economic opportunities in the region and beyond.”The PM declared that the coming of the new railway into full force would encourage transit and logistic potential and would further strengthen the region’s trade and transportation status.