Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan is expanding its fleet of passenger trains for the Baku-Sumgayit route.

The third of five high-speed trains that were purchased by Azerbaijan Railways from the Stadler Minsk plant has been delivered to Baku, Azerbaijani Railways spokesman Nadir Azmammadov told Trend on August 19.

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

The contract is worth about 60-70 million euros, which is to be paid to Stadler Rail Group within 20 years with the help of revenues generated from passenger fees.

Stadler’s double-decker train is designed to seat up to 919 passengers. Each train consists of four passenger cars having total 396 seats, 84 of which are business class seats.

It is equipped with an air-conditioning system and will be provided with Wi-Fi.

The fee for the Baku-Sumgayit electric train is expected to be between 50 ($0.48) and 70 ($0.67) Azerbaijani qepiks per trip.

Earlier, electric trains along the Baku-Sumgayit railway reached their destination within one hour 22 minutes. Thanks to the renovation that is currently underway along the route, this time will be reduced up to 40 minutes.

The railway line, which runs a total 43 kilometers, is expected to carry roughly 30,000-35,000 passengers daily.

At present, some 110,000 cars run between Baku and Sumgayit on a daily basis, carrying about 200,000 people. At its initial stage, the train will be used to ferry 15,000 passengers, reducing road traffic.

Azmammadov also added that three of five trains purchased in Riga for the Keshla-Yalama line are already in Baku.

Trains on this route will begin operating after the start of the Baku-Sumgayit route.

At present, the Baku-Zabrat-Sumgayit trains reach their destination point within one hour 29 minutes. After the renovation of the railway, that time will be shortened to 52 minutes.

Meanwhile, on August 3 Kazakhstan has sent another diesel locomotive to Azerbaijan.

According to an agreement between the two countries, Kazakhstan will supply Azerbaijan with ten 3,500-horsepower diesel locomotives manufactured in Kazakhstan jointly with the U.S.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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