Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 12
By Huseyn Veliyev – Trend:
Azerbaijan and Iran will discuss the progress of construction work within the North-South transport corridor within the framework of the Azerbaijani delegation’s visit in Tehran December 20-21, the head of Azerbaijani Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov told reporters Dec.12.
“In accordance with the instructions of the head of state to accelerate the construction work in the Azerbaijani section of the North-South international transport corridor, we will work together with Iran on the construction of the bridge in Astara,” said Gurbanov.
“In addition, we will continue our full gauge railway on the territory of Iran, which will simplify the transport of cargo coming from Iran through the territory of Azerbaijan,” he said.
The North-South transport corridor will connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia. It will serve as a bridge to connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
This project envisages creating a border railway bridge between Iranian and Azerbaijani Astara, as well as laying 8-kilometer-long branch on Azerbaijan’s territory.
According to preliminary estimates, its capacity will be 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million metric tons of cargo a year. Around 22 tunnels and 15 bridges will be built throughout the railway. Around 15 tunnels have already been constructed.
The volume of cargo transportation through the corridor will amount to 6 million metric tons in the initial stage and will reach 15-20 million metric tons in the future.
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