Moscow hosts bilateral meeting of heads of Azerbaijani, Russian railways

A bilateral meeting of Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CSJC Javid Gurbanov and President of Russian Railways JSC Oleg Belozyorov was held in Moscow.

Abilateral meeting of Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CSJC Javid Gurbanov and President of Russian Railways JSC Oleg Belozyorov was held in Moscow.

At the bilateral meeting the parties discussed the current status of the North-South project, Trend reported.

Gurbanov said that a 8.3 kilometer railway line has already been laid from Astara station to the Iranian border and the construction of a railway bridge across the Astarachay river has been completed. The border along the new bridge has already crossed the test train. Currently, the work is underway in Iranian Astara.

The Chairman also reported about the recent signing of an agreement between the railway departments of Azerbaijan and Iran on the project "Construction and operation of the Astara loading and unloading terminal". It provides for the construction of a 1.4 km long railway line and four terminals with high transshipment facilities on the Iranian territory with the support of Azerbaijan Railways.

In turn, Belozyorov appraised the work done by the Azerbaijani side in the framework of the North-South project and noted the need to mobilize all forces to attract freight traffic to this route.

Further, he presented the breastplate "Honorary Railroader" to Gurbanov for the expansion of the connections between the Azerbaijani and Russian railways, for active work in the creation of international transport corridors, as well as for the significant contribution to the coordination of rail transport at the interstate level, and the development of agreed principles for its activities.

In order to increase the volume of cargo transportation along the International North–South Transport Corridor, an agreement has been reached on the initiative of the Azerbaijani side to set up a Coordination Council with the center in Baku.

The North-South Transport Corridor is planned to connect Northern Europe with South-East Asia. It will serve as a link for connecting the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.

At the first stage, it is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo per year along the corridor "NorthSouth", and in the future - 15-20 million tons of cargo

Cargoes on the North-South route, with a length of approximately 5,600 kilometers, will be carried by sea, rail and road transport in just 14 days.

Its southern point is the Indian port of Mumbai, onward Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia. The new route halves the time of delivery of containers in comparison with the traditional one - through the Suez Canal to the port of St. Petersburg.