Products of Russia’s metallurgy companies transported to Turkey via B
ADY Express LLC, subsidiary of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, has been transporting products of Russia’s “EVRAZ Nizhni – Tagil Metallurgical Plant” to Turkey since December 2019, ADY Express Azad Gasimov told Report.
According to him, the total weight of the first cargo is 2,053 tonnes: “EVRAZ Nizhni – Tagil Metallurgical Plant is one of the biggest metallurgical and mining companies in the world. It ranks 15th for steel production. We think BTK will be capable of transporting 100,000 tonnes of cargos of EVRAZ Nizhni – Tagil Metallurgical Plant and Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant per month. So, if we look at the statistics, we can see that ADY Express transported 1,324 tonnes and 20 wagons of metal cargos in 2018, 25,193 tonnes, and 385 wagons in 2019 and 29,673 tonnes and 537 wagons in eth four months of 2020.”
Gasimov noted that the cargo turnover between Russia and Turkey can be increase: “Thus, BTK will play an important role in cargo transportation.”
BTK was launched on October 30, 2017. The railway line provides a connection between the railway networks of Asia and Europe. This is the shortest way not only among the three countries but also between Asia and Europe. BTK reduces the time for cargo transportations by more than twice.
The railway line simplifies the access of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan to Europe and world markets. The 504 km-part of the BTK, which is 846 km in length, passes through Azerbaijan, 263 km through Georgia, and 79 km through Turkey.
This route is planned to carry 5 million tonnes of cargo in the first stage, 17 million tonnes in the next steps and larger volumes in the following stages.