Azerbaijan and Russia expect to reach the volume of rail cargo transportation, including transit, along the North-South international transport corridor of at least 15 million tons per year by 2027, a government source told Interfax-Azerbaijan.
“Given the importance of the North-South MTC, there is an understanding between Baku and Moscow that it is necessary to support the intensification of work on the preparation, coordination and signing of a bilateral agreement on the development of this corridor. In addition, the parties intend to cooperate to increase the transportation capacity of the corridor to at least 15 million tons per year in rail transit by 2027, including the capacity of border stations,” the agency interlocutor said.
According to him, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation will continue to work to eliminate infrastructure restrictions on the western North-South route in their territories in order to allow the growing volume of cargo transportation in this direction.
In addition, the railway departments of the two countries were instructed to take measures to synchronize the work on the transfer of sections of the Baku-Yalama railway-the border with the Russian Federation (on the territory of Azerbaijan) and Derbent-Samur-the border of Azerbaijan (on the territory of the Russian Federation) from direct to alternating current.
The source added that the Russian side is interested in participating in railway infrastructure projects on the territory of Azerbaijan, including the reconstruction and modernization of railway sections at the North-South MTC.
“In addition, the Russian side is interested in supplying railway equipment for the needs of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and SOCAR,” the agency interlocutor stressed.
Earlier, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said that the volume of transit cargo transportation via the North-South MTC through the territory of Azerbaijan in the future could amount to 15-30 million tons per year.
The North-South transport corridor is designed to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia, including the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.
Cargo turnover along the North-South corridor in 2022, according to various estimates, amounted to 3 million tons.
A source: https://e-cis.info/news/568/111940/
