Azerbaijan gives Georgia loan for Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway construction

Azerbaijan and Georgia have signed a deal in Baku. Azerbaijan will provide Georgia with a loan worth $575 million for construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the connector of the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish railways, 1news.az reports.

The loan was provided for 25 years with a rate of 5%. Regardless of the rate payments, Georgia will pay commission fees worth 0.5%, which must not exceed 20,000 Georgian laris.
The loan will finance construction and rehabilitation of the Tetritskaro-Akhalkalaki railway line, construction of the Akhalkalaki train station and construction of other railway infrastructure facilities.
Kartsakhi-Marabda issued the credit, it is not a state debt. The loan will be paid off using income from realization of the railway project.
The first loan was worth $200 million, provided for 25 years at a rate of 1%.
Adjustments in the Azerbaijani-Georgian deal on financing, designing, construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the
Marabda-Kratsakhi (Turkish border) line increased the credit to $775 million.
The Azerbaijani State Oil Fund finances construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars. The project includes construction of a new 1059-kilometer line, 76 km of which will run through Turkey, 29 km – through Georgia.
Georgia will reconstruct the Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi railway section. Akhalkalaki will have a switch from Georgian to European gauge.
Azerbaijani Transport Minister Ziya Mamedov said that they plan to finish construction in late 2012. The corridor will be launched in early 2013.
The railway line will have a capacity of 17 million tons of cargo. The line will transport 1 million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo at the first stage.

source: vestnikkavkaza

South Caucasus railways and Georgian railways company to install unified ticket sales and reservation system

YEREVAN, November 10, /ARKA/. The South Caucasus Railways company operating Armenia’s railroads and the Georgian Railways Company will install a unified ticket sales and reservation system, the press office of the South Caucasus Railways company said.
It said an agreement to that end was signed November 5. The unified system was developed jointly by programmers of both companies on the basis of Orion information platform. The unified ticket reservation and sale system will be installed within seven months since the signing of the relating agreement,
The South Caucasus Railways is run by Russian Railways. The concessional agreement was concluded in 2008 for 30 years, with a right of extension for another 20 years after the first 20 years of operation.

source: Arka