Georgia and Azerbaijan establish BTK joint venture

Azerbaijan Railways (ADY) and Georgian rail freight operator Marabda-Kartsakhi Railway created a new joint venture in the context of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway. “The joint venture will fully repay the loan debt allocated to Georgia from the obtained fund”, Azerbaijan Railways specified.

The new company was christened BTKI Railways, ADY mentioned. When it comes to the management of the infrastructure and operations along the BTK, tasks will be equally divided between ADY and Marabda-Kartsakhi Railway. Other than the new BTK joint venture, Georgia is in talks with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to join the new entity established by the two countries for operations along the Middle Corridor as a whole.

BTK railway

The BTK line, stretching from the Caspian Sea to northeastern Turkey, was reopened to traffic in May after one year of closure due to infrastructure works launched. Works along this important Middle Corridor section started in December 2022, making rail infrastructure unavailable for over a year. Rail freight capacity along the line, thanks to the new upgrade, has now increased from one to five million tonnes per year.