Сargo transportation by the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway since its commissioning has exceeded 2.4 million tons, Report informs via Anadolu.
According to the former Minister of Transport, Shipping and Communications of Türkiye, Ahmet Arslan, the BTK has been called the “Project of the Century” since the start of construction. In 2022 alone, 691,000 tons of cargo were transported along this route.
“Thanks to Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, railway cargo from London can reach Beijing in 12-15 days. By sea transport, the same deliveries from Europe to Asia through Africa are carried out in 45-62 days. When using the Russian route, you need 32 days for the delivery of cargo from Beijing to Europe. In this context, the role of Türkiye in world trade has increased,” he said.
BTK was launched on October 30, 2017 and is another successful fruit of cooperation between Türkiye, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The opening ceremony of the new railway line was attended by the leaders of Türkiye and Azerbaijan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev.
The length of the BTK is 829 km, 504 km of which runs through the territory of Azerbaijan, 246 km – Georgia, and 79 km – Türkiye. The new road made it possible to reduce the time for deliveries of goods between Asia and Europe to 15 days.