​World Bank: 'Modernization of Azerbaijani railways planned for 2017'

Baku. 19 January. REPORT.AZ/ The modernization of railways in Azerbaijan is scheduled for 2017, as the result, the system will be able to carry three times more cargo than at the present moment. Report informs, this was stated in the article of the World Bank on the development of railways in Azerbaijan.

"A fast, efficient railroad system is, some experts say, both the key to regional integration and an enormous economic engine - a system that, in the first five months of 2014, carried over 8 million tons of freight. Over 70 percent of that freight is oil, and the focus now is on getting it from the edge of the Caspian Sea to the country’s western border with Georgia."

According to Tofig Masirov, who is the chief of the Bilajari Locomotive Depot, new locomotives, delivered to Azerbaijan, will be able to carry up to 1,6 times more freight than before and in a shorter time.

The article notes that With support from the World Bank, and for the first time in 30 years, Azerbaijan is investing heavily in its railroads. Among the improvements are 50 new locomotives. Others include improved signals and switches, staff training and a reorganization of the way the railroad company does business, moving from government control to a joint stock company.

The project refurbished 500 kilometers of track.

"The intention of the state to improve the railway is just ambitious," emphasized in the article.

The World Bank notes, change will benefit the economy of Azerbaijan as a whole. Transporting oil to international markets raises revenues for the government; these revenues help support the country’s budget through rising wages and salaries and social service payments,” says Qurban Nazirov, the deputy chairman of Azerbaijan Railways.