Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

The first test train on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) route left Turkey for Georgia.

Among the passengers were Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication of Turkey Ahmet Arslan, Georgia’s Economy Minister Georgy Gakhariya, Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov, Chairman of Georgian Railway Mamuka Bakhtadze and Head of national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy Kanat Alpysbayev.

Gakhariya noted that there are great expectations from the results and that the involvement of the BTK railway line should bring benefits to Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan and to the countries of the region. "The purpose of the meeting is to see at what stage the works are," he added.

The BTK railway, which is an important part of the historical Silk Road, is being constructed on the basis of the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey intergovernmental agreement. The main purpose of the project is to improve economic relations between the three countries and gain foreign direct investment by connecting Europe and Asia.

The project was launched in 2007, while the construction work began in 2008.

The line is intended to transport one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of freight at the first stage. This capacity will then reach 3 million passengers and 17 million tons of cargo.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz