The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway marked its seventh anniversary this week, celebrating the transformative role it has played in regional connectivity since its inauguration on 30 October 2017.

This strategic rail corridor connects Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, linking Europe and Asia along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, also known as the Middle Corridor. The BTK provides a faster and more efficient route for transporting goods across the Eurasian continent.

Over the past seven years, the BTK has helped to strengthen economic ties, facilitate trade and promote sustainable development in the region. As a key component of the Middle Corridor, it has also enhanced Azerbaijan’s position as a strategic transit hub, supporting efforts towards sustainable transport and further integration into global logistics networks.

The completion of Azerbaijan Railways’ $250 million modernisation project on the Georgian section of the BTK in May this year has increased the railway’s overall throughput capacity from 1 million to 5 million tonnes, with plans to increase this to 17 million tonnes in the future.

The 826-kilometre BTK line, which connects Azerbaijan’s rail network with Turkey’s rail network, provides a faster and more accessible rail link between China, Central Asia and Europe. Running from Baku through Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, to Kars in northeastern Turkey, it significantly reduces the overland journey between China and Europe to just 15 days, compared to the previous 25-45 days.

In September, ADY signed an agreement with Chinese companies to facilitate freight deliveries via the BTK line on the Middle Corridor. Since the beginning of 2024, more than 210 container block trains carrying 420,000 tonnes of import and transit goods from China have arrived in Azerbaijan. By the end of the year, more than 300 block trains are expected to travel west from China to Azerbaijan and European markets. The ultimate goal is to send 1,000 trains a year.

President Ilham Aliyev recently stated that the sharp increase in freight traffic through Azerbaijan’s territory encourages additional investment in projects to increase the capacity of the international corridors that cross the country.

In 2019, Azerbaijan Railways will transport 3.8 million tonnes of transit cargo, while the cargo volume will reach 6.8 million tonnes in 2023.

According to Azerbaijan Railways (ADY) data, the volume of rail transit cargo transported in January-April 2024 increased by 14 per cent compared to the first four months of last year, and in the first quarter it increased by 10 per cent in comparison.

In the first nine months of 2024, the volume of freight along the Middle Corridor increased by 70 percent, reaching 3.4 million tonnes. Containerised cargo accounted for a significant share of the total cargo volume on this route, tripling to 34,600 TEUs compared to the same period last year.

In addition, container transit from China has increased more than 20-fold since the beginning of the year.

Source: Caspian News