The construction of the 76km long section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project in Turkey will start in July.

Ministry of Transportation officials said that presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia will lay the foundation of Turkish part of the railway, in June.

Turkey has allocated 380 million YTL for to the project that will revive historical Silk Road as "Iron Silk Road." The railway, which consists of 3 phases, will connect Turkey with Azerbaijan and other Turkic republics in Central Asia.

Georgia on its soil will construct 29-km railway line from Turkish border to Ahilkelek and rehabilitate the current railway track reaching near Tbilisi. Preparations for the bidding process in Georgia's section continues. Azerbaijan will meet the cost of the construction works in Georgia.

The railway project is targeted to be concluded in 2010. On the other hand, shipping through railway will be possible from Europe to China following completion of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Project in parallel to completion of ongoing Marmaray Project in Istanbul.

30 million tones of freight are planned to be shipped annually in the medium term when Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway starts to be operated

Last February, the agreement for the landmark Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project was signed in Tbilisi by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.


On November 21st, presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia laid the foundation of Georgian part of the railway.