Goods to be delivered from India to Europe within 14 days

With the railway corridor connecting India to Europe, we will soon be able to deliver goods along this route in no more than 14 days, chairman of Azerbaijan Railways, Javid Gurbanov said in his interview with The Business Year.

He talked about the International Trans-Caspian route from China to Baku and said that Azerbaijan becomes an important hub for regional transportation, “In this project, we are creating a transport corridor that connects the East and West. It starts off in China, passes through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukrainian ports, Bulgaria, and continues further along the Danube. Over the past 100-150 years, the majority of cargo has been shipped by sea, because it is usually a cheaper option,” and he added, “It is hard for railway transportation to beat sea transport; however, we can compete through the use of air carriers and trucks. It is challenging, but we believe that we will be able to win in this competition. With the new transport corridor connecting Mumbai to Europe, we will soon be able to deliver goods along this route in no more than 14 days at the most.”

“Baku-Tbilisi-Kars capacity will increase”

He underlined that Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway (BTK) will handle 5 million tons of cargo and in the future the capacity will reach up to 17 million tons.

“With regards to the project’s technical updates and specifications, we have almost completed 183km of the railway in Georgia; there are only some minor details that we need to finalize. Initially, this railway will handle 5 million tons of cargo and in the future the capacity will reach up to 17 million tons. The Georgian part of the project will be completed by the end of 2016. After the completion of the Georgian portion, the only part left to complete will be in Turkey, and ground works are almost finished there at this point,” he said.

He also mentioned the Azerbaijan-Iran railway link and shared his thoughts on its positive outcomes, “This connection will boost Azerbaijan’s currency inflow and work to create new employment opportunities for Azerbaijani citizens. If we can handle 2-5 million tons, we will be able to get $50-70 million and create 2,000-3,000 new jobs dealing with railways, maintenance, and so on. Iran also wants to establish a railway connection with Moscow and St. Petersburg.”