Baku-Tbilisi-Kars to be completed by the end of 2014
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Turkeys Minister of Transport, Shipping, and Communications, Binali Yildirim announced that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway will be completed by the end of 2014.
Yildrim talked to the Turkish media on November 21 and stressed that the construction of the 76-kilometer BTK railway project continues in accordance with the international standards.
Construction of a new 105 kilometer branch railway as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project is planned, out of which 76 kilometers will be on Turkish territory, and 29 kilometers on Georgian territory.
BTK railway will have direct access to the European rail network. Each year around 30 million tons of cargo will be transported through the road. The railway will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe.
According to Binal Yildirim the BTK project revived the historic Silk Road.
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.
The first test train is set to begin operating on the new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project later today.
Georgia is gearing up to host the 5th meeting between Georgian, Turkish and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers later this year.
Azerbaijan is intending to put 30 new passenger carriages into operation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway corridor that connects Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.