Tomorrow, the official opening ceremony of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway will be held in Georgia.
The ceremony, to be held at the Akhalkalaki railway station, is expected to be attended by officials from Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.
Although the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has been operating in test mode since 2017, the official commissioning of the project will only now take place. The total length of the main line is 827 kilometers, of which 213 kilometers pass through Georgian territory. The construction of the Georgian section of the project was financed by a $775 million loan allocated by Azerbaijan. It is planned to repay the loan from the revenues generated by the project.
What new opportunities does the official commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway create for the region? Is passenger transportation also possible via the BTK line? What is the place of this railway line in Azerbaijan's long-term transport strategy? How competitive will the BTK route be in transit shipments between Europe and Asia?
Regarding the topic, Medianews.az quoted economist Natig Jafarli as saying that although the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway operated in test mode, it has already proven to be profitable: "With this route, freight shipments are carried out from Asia to Europe, from East to West, saving both time and funds significantly.
Naturally, passenger transportation will also take place. As far as I know, there are already certain agreements and understandings with the Turkish side regarding this. Most likely, a line will be opened extending from Baku to Tbilisi and then to Istanbul. This may also increase passenger transportation. Additionally, Azerbaijan can also turn it into a tourist route. In other words, it could be organized under the name "Caucasus Express," for example, enabling tourists coming from Central Asia to travel by train to Turkey and even further to Europe.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is a project solely implemented by Azerbaijan, which started its execution in the mid-2000s. The success of the project that started back then is now becoming clearer. This means that the prior decisions made were correct, and today, after the official opening, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is the main element of the East-West corridor, can emerge as a successful project both in freight and passenger transportation. This will significantly enhance the transit and tourism potential of both Azerbaijan and Georgia."
Medianews.az quoted transport expert Yasin Mustafayev as saying that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is a component of the East-West transit route and part of the Middle Corridor: “Currently, intense events and wars in the world have created great difficulties in logistics. To the north is Russia, to the south is Iran. Transporting cargo in both directions is risky and sometimes not possible due to certain restrictions. Therefore, priority is given to the Middle Corridor, that is, through the Caspian via Azerbaijan to Georgia, then to Turkey, Europe, and vice versa.
This is also an alternative to the Zangezur corridor. Currently, the commissioning of the Zangezur corridor is somewhat delayed for certain reasons. However, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line is already ready. Although it was put into use in 2017, it has operated in test mode until now. After the official opening, it will play an invaluable role in cargo transportation. I hope that the transit transportation of goods will be very beneficial for our country, as well as for the regional countries and all states with interests from Europe to China.”
Nailə Qasımova,
Medianews.az
Note: The article was prepared with the financial support of the Media Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan and in accordance with the competition conditions, on the topic "Integration of the Republic of Azerbaijan into the world community, development of cooperation with regional countries, other states, and international organizations."
