An official ceremony was held at the Akhalkalaki station in Georgia to mark the commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line following a major upgrade. This modernized main line is a key component of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, providing a rail link between Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey and creating new opportunities for freight transit from Kazakhstan to Europe.
The 827-kilometer railway had been operating in test mode since 2017. Between May 2023 and May 2024, infrastructure upgrades were carried out along the route to improve transport efficiency and eliminate existing capacity constraints.
As a result of the reconstruction, the annual capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars line has increased fivefold – from 1 million to 5 million tons of cargo. The expanded capacity of the route is expected to strengthen the role of the Middle Corridor in international trade, boost Kazakhstan’s transit potential, and foster the further development of logistics links between Eurasian nations.