ASTANA (TCA) — With the commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line this year, cargo from China will be transported through Kazakhstan along a shorter route to Turkey and on to Europe. This was said during a working trip to Azerbaijan and Georgia by Kanat Alpysbayev, the head of Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the company’s press service reported on July 25. Alpysbayev visited the objects of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, whose commissioning is planned for October this year.
This railway line, more than 800 kilometers long, will connect Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey with a single rail link and is one of the important sections of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor.
During the visit Alpysbayev held negotiations with the Minister of Transport, Shipping and Communications of Turkey Ahmet Arslan and the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Georgy Gakharia on cooperation in the field of railway transport.
“Kazakhstan railway workers and our Chinese colleagues are waiting for the opening of the new railway which will expand the geography of cargo transportation along the corridor with access to Turkey,” Alpysbayev said.
Taking into account the implementation of projects for the development of transport infrastructure, the potential of corridors passing through the territory of the countries of the region increases many times. This allows achieving transportation of up to 2 million containers per year through Kazakhstan by 2020.
