Baku, December 21, AZERTAC
The Georgian ministry of economy and sustainable development on Monday announced the successful completion of the trial run of Marabda-Kartsakhi train of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. According to Marabda – Kartsakhi LLC, it was ‘another step towards the successful completion of the entire project".
"The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project is very important for Georgia and the entire region. It will boost the opening of railway route from Asia to Europe,’ the Ministry said in a statement.
Georgia hopes that completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway in 2016, that will link Azerbaijan with Turkey via Georgia, will increase efficiency of the route.
According to the ministry, 21 container trains departed from China toward Kazakhstan, from where it was ferried via Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and then headed again on rail to Georgia. The cargo will finally be shipped by sea to Istanbul from Georgia.
Running the pilot Marabda-Kartsakhi train immediately after the ceremony of welcoming the train from China, demonstrated that the branch and the whole Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be an integral part of the new Asia-Europe route, and the bulk of the cargo will be transported from the port of Baku to Turkey and Europe by means of this railway. "We have already figured out how many new jobs will each container create," said Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Dmitry Kumsishvili.
