Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Developing Azerbaijan is exploring its transport system, and now it’s improving its railway.

The history of Azerbaijani railway goes back to the 19th century when it was mainly used for oil transportation. Today, the total length of the country’s railway surpasses 2,932 kilometers.

Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku is developing at full steam with the regular construction of new business centers and other venues - attracting thousands of people to the center of the country. For this reason, traffic jams are now common in the capital.

Baku residents are still remembering their travel by electric train from the suburbs to the city center in less than 30 minutes some decades ago. The number of electric trains was reduced significantly in 2000 because of their economic inefficiency.

However, today, the city wants them back to ease off traffic, but not without some technological innovations.

Azerbaijan Railways Company and Switzerland’s Stadler Rail Group signed a contract on the purchase of five KISS double-decker trains at the 14th International Transport, Transit and Logistics Exhibition, TransCaspian 2015 in Baku on May 13.

The new train will consist of four cars which will accommodate an estimated 919 people. There will be 396 seats in each train, 84 of which are business class seats.

Azerbaijan Railways Chairman Javid Gurbanov said the contract is worth about 60-70 million euros, which are to be paid to Stadler Rail Group within 20 years with the help of the revenues generated from passenger transportation.

The first two trains will be delivered to Azerbaijan this June, and they will run during the First European Games between the Baku Railway Station and the Koroglu Metro Station, near the Baku Olympic Stadium.

The rest of the trains will be delivered to Azerbaijan by late January 2016. After the completion of the European Games, all five trains are planned to be used on the Baku-Sumgayit railway. The railway which runs across 43 kilometers is now under reconstruction and will be commissioned on June 5.

The Baku-Sumgayit railway will open up access to the industrial city located some 30 km north of the capital in 40 minutes.

Every day some 110,000 cars run between Baku and Sumgayit, carrying about 200,000 people. At the initial stage, it will be possible to transport 15,000 passengers by electric trains, which will reduce road traffic.

Travel cost on this direction will be based on current expenditures of the population which now stands at average one manat (about $ 0.95) a day.

Next year, Azerbaijan will receive its first freight locomotive from the French Alstom company.

The contract stipulating the delivery of 50 freight locomotives to the Azerbaijani Railways company was signed last year.

"Funding of this project has already been secured. The first modern freight locomotive will be delivered to Azerbaijan next year. The contract value stands at approximately 300 million euros, or about six million euros for each locomotive," said Martin Vojour, regional head of the company.

He noted that Alstom expects to supply Azerbaijan with locomotives for passengers carrying as well. "The need of the Azerbaijani Railways in such locomotives is about 12 to 20 pieces."

With such a number of new trains, Azerbaijani Railways will attract even more passengers, making the railway one of the most popular modes of transportation in the country.

Traveling with trains along Azerbaijani regions is now very comfortable. Information on prices and timetables is available online. Moreover, Azerbaijan Railways offers the possibility of purchasing tickets online.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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