Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway construction starts

Turkish and Azerbaijani Ministers for Transportation Binali Yildirim and Ziya Mamedov and Georgian Minister for Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Kvirikashvili took part in rail-laying of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway in Turkey’s Kars Province yesterday, Trend reports.

Yildirim said that the railway was a project of Central Asia, China and states of the Balkans, Middle East and the EU. Mamedov noted that the railway project will boost business and freighting.

The railway project includes construction of a 105-km railway line and reconstruction of the Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi section in Georgia. The railway will gain access to Europe and have a maximum capacity of 30 million tons of goods a year. Construction of the Marmaray Tunnel under the Bosphorus in Turkey will grant access to Europe.