Kvirikashvili, Aliyev, and Erdogan Officially Open Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was officially opened today in a ceremony in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was opened by Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev, and Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shabkat Mirziyoyev.

It is the first train to connect Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey.

Photos from the Opening Ceremony of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway:

The first train headed to Turkey is carrying wheat.

Prime Minister Kvirikashvili spoke at the railway opening:

“The most important is the fact that the unity of the countries present here is being demonstrated by this project. I’m sure that by similar projects and by standing beside each other, we will deepen our ties even more, which will bring more success to our countries and our region,” he said.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway covers a 254 km long road, out of which 29 km of track are completely new.

The new railway will have the potential to transfer one million people a year and, on the first stage, to transfer goods worth 6.5 million tonnes. Eventually the carrying capacity of the railway will increase up to 15 million tonnes.

The railway will start working in 2018. It will transfer both goods and passengers.

The development of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project started in 2007 and construction started in 2008.

As part of the project, on the territory of Georgia a new railway was constructed from the town of Akhalkalaki to the border of Turkey.

The testing of the road first started in 2015. The project was slowed due to a slow pace of construction of the road from the Turkish side.

The transportation of goods by railway in Georgia has reduced by 40% in the last five years. In 2012 the railway transported 20 million tonnes of goods, whereas in 2016 - 11.9 million tonnes.