Passenger Trains on Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Coming Late 2019

Azerbaijan Railways CJSC announced last week that passenger transport will begin on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway in the second half of 2019.

In 2014, Stadler formed a joint venture with Azerbaijan-based company International Railway Distribution LLC and agreed to provide the passenger cars that will run on the long-awaited Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route. The new Stadler passenger cars are scheduled to be delivered to Azerbaijan in the first quarter of 2019. Each train will have 257 beds, divided into first, second and a blended "first/second" class of family compartments.

“The delivery of 10 new railcars has been scheduled for the first stage, the delivery of another 10 railcars has been scheduled for the second stage,” said Azerbaijan Railways. Their statement also noted that since the railway first opened for cargo transport in June of this year, more than 3,000 containers have been shipped along the route between China, Central Asia, Russia, and Azerbaijan and Turkey. The shipments have so far primarily contained building materials, electrical equipment, detergents, grain and other goods.

Azerbaijan Railways first announced in June 2014 that they had signed a EUR 115 million contract with Stadler to supply three 10-car variable-gauge sleeper trains, the delivery schedule was originally set for between mid-2016 and mid-2017. The original contract includes the option for purchasing an additional 70 sleeping cars.

By 2030, the railway will be capable of carrying an estimated 17 million tons of cargo and approximately three million passengers.

Azerbaijan Railways also noted that the countries linked to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway on the other side of the Caspian Sea – Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, notably, have high expectations for the route and its potential to increase their transit roles.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway is based on an agreement between the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. The Railway was officially inaugurated on October 30, 2017, with a ceremony at the Baku International Sea Trade Port, by Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev, and Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shabkat Mirziyoyev.

At the opening ceremony, Kvirikashvili spoke to the gathered crowds, saying “The most important thing is the fact that the project demonstrates the unity of the countries present here. I’m sure that by similar projects and by standing beside each other, we will deepen our ties even more, which will bring more success to our countries and our region.”

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway includes 826 kilometers of track. In Georgia, 29 kilometers of new train tracks were laid from Akhalkalaki west to the border of Turkey, and 76 kilometers of track were laid inside Turkey, from the border to the city of Kars. Residents of the southern part of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region where transportation links are limited and lengthy, particularly in the winter, are looking to the railway line to bring more tourists to the cities of Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda and the area around Paravani Lake.

In 2012, Georgian Railways transported 20 million tons of freight, while in 2016 it was just 11.9 million tons – a 40% decrease. The decrease is due in part to the construction of new, high-speed highways such as the East-West Highway between Tbilisi and Khashuri and the Kobuleti Bypass on the Black Sea Coast.

By Samantha Guthrie

Image source: Prime Minister of Georgia, Press Office

05 November 2018 16:50