A New Transportation Connection Will Be Established Between Kars Nakhchivan Railway and Turkey-Azerbaijan

A New Transportation Connection Will Be Established Between Kars Nakhchivan Railway and Turkey-Azerbaijan
A New Transportation Connection Will Be Established Between Kars Nakhchivan Railway and Turkey-Azerbaijan

Zangezur Corridor was one of the highlights of the meetings between the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Uraloğlu and his counterpart, Reşat Nebiyev, the Minister of Digital Development and Transportation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, during the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Azerbaijan.

Minister Uraloğlu evaluated the latest developments regarding the current situation and the planned works in the Zangezur Corridor, which will connect the western parts of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Armenia with the highway and railway lines that will pass through the Zangezur Region.

Minister Uraloğlu said, “The Zangezur Corridor will provide new opportunities for the development of economic cooperation in the South Caucasus in the future. With the Zangezur Corridor becoming operational, the rail and road freight carrying capacity of the middle corridor will increase, which will contribute positively to the increase in East-West trade from Beijing to London. With the increase in the efficiency of the middle corridor, the importance of our country's strategic position in the region will increase with the projects that can be developed on the Caspian Sea with Azerbaijan, as well as the cooperation with Nakhchivan and Russia in the field of transportation and energy.

Minister Uraloğlu announced that the construction of the part of the line up to the Armenian border continues, a new 166-kilometer railway will be built from Horadiz to the Ordubad province of Nakhchivan, and negotiations will be held between Azerbaijan and Russia for the construction of the 43-kilometer section of the Armenian part of the line, which will pass through the Zangezur Region. .

Minister Uraloğlu also noted that in this context, road lines will also be put into operation in parallel with the railway line.

Within the scope of the Kars-Nakhchivan Railway Project, which will provide a new transportation link between Turkey and Azerbaijan; Pointing out that a new transportation connection will be provided between Türkiye and Azerbaijan, Minister Uraloğlu said:

“The 158-kilometer line from Ordubad to the Velidağ station in the north of Nakhchivan will be extensively repaired. In addition, the line will be extended 14 kilometers from Velidağ to the Armenian border. In this way, as an alternative to the structure that connects to Georgia via Kars-Tbilisi-Baku, it will be possible to access the corridor by connecting to Nakhchivan via Kars- Dilucu.”

Zangezur Corridor

Much More Advantageous And Less Costly

Located in the Central Corridor of China's Belt Road Project, this line covers a total of 4.256 kilometers of railway and 508 kilometers of sea routes, including Turkey. The transport of Chinese goods to the West via the Central corridor is much more advantageous and less convenient due to the shorter time (20 days) and higher standard of highways and railways in the North corridor compared to the North corridor (14 days) and the South corridor (12 days). is expected to be costly.

The most important benefit of being located in the strategically important Zangezur Corridor, in addition to the Northern corridor of which Turkey is a part, provides economic advantages from transit, as well as having new and fast railway lines.

Regional Trade Will Reflect Positively

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Uraloğlu stated that the Zangezur Corridor has socio-economic, geopolitical and geo-strategic features connecting Central Asia, the Caspian Region, Azerbaijan and Armenia to Turkey, and that the corridor connects the railway network between Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia. He underlined that the expansion will have a positive impact on regional trade. Providing information about the importance of the Zengezur Corridor, Minister Uraloğlu continued his words as follows;

“The corridor will provide new opportunities for the development of economic cooperation in the South Caucasus in the future. With the functioning of the Zangezur corridor, the rail and road cargo carrying capacity of the middle corridor will increase, which will contribute positively to the increase in the East-West trade from Beijing to London. With the increase in the efficiency of the middle corridor, the importance of our country's strategic position in the region will increase with the projects that can be developed on Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea, as well as the cooperation that can be achieved with Nakhchivan and Russia in the field of transportation and energy. In addition, it is planned that the freight mobility that will occur in the region will have positive effects on the economic strengthening of the provinces of our country on the Caucasus border and especially on the increase in the number of employment for the logistics sector.