Addressing the International Rail Business Forum titled “Strategic Partnership 1520: Caspian region”, Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov spoke about priorities of the company’s activities.
The priority directions of the activity of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC for 2017-2018 includes the development of the North-South transport corridor, renewal of infrastructure from Yalama to Astara in order to create comfortable conditions for the carriers, as well as to issue a loan to the Iranian side for construction of the section of the Astara-Rasht railway, Gurbanov said.
“The North-South project is very important for Azerbaijan”, he noted. “Currently, we conduct active work with our Iranian colleagues on the implementation of the project and are going to allocate a loan to the Iranian side for the construction of the Astara-Rasht railway”.
“Meanwhile, as part of the project, we plan to fully renovate the railway infrastructure from Astara to Rasht”, Gurbanov added.
The Gazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) railway is a part of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which will connect Northern Europe with Southeastern Asia, as well as join railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.
At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 5 million tons of cargo via the corridor per year, and more than 10 million tons annually – in the future. (Trend/Business World Magazine)