Azerbaijani railways: past, present and future

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:53

Azerbaijani railways are today one of the industries in the country, the development of which is moving forward by leaps and bounds. The history of the development of the railway communication is very interesting, and the plans for the future are global.

History

After the collapse of the USSR, and Azerbaijan became an independent country, Azerbaijan Railways CJSC was established. But in fact, the development of railway communication began much earlier. In 1878, the first highway was put into operation. The main task that she had to solve was the transportation of oil. The road was built at the expense of the state treasury and belonged to Azerbaijan. Three years later, it was merged with the Georgian one and received the name "Transcaucasian Railway". Various historical events contributed to the fact that until 1967 it either became an independent organization, or re-merged with the Georgian one.

Since the first section of the track was laid in Azerbaijan, a huge number of people have been working in the country's railway industry. Therefore 13October, each representative of this profession celebrates the Day of Azerbaijan Railway Workers.

One of the primary tasks of the organization today is to provide quality service. To implement this line of business, the company operates electric locomotives, electric trains, shunting and main diesel locomotives.

Where can I go?

As for the routes of Azerbaijan Railways, they can be divided into internal and external.

Domestic routes operate within the country and currently include 7 destinations:

• Baku - Agstafa through Gazakh;
• Baku - Sumgayit;
• Baku - Hajikabul through Shirvan;
• Baku - Yalama;
• Baku - Kesik through Boyuk;
• Baku - Horadiz via Astara;
• Baku - Balakan through Kocharli.

All flights except Baku - Sumgayit and Baku - Hajikabul depart daily in both directions. Electric trains on the route Baku - Sumgayit depart several times a day. Directions on the Baku - Hajikabul flight are carried out daily, except Saturday.

External routes include flights outside the country to 4 destinations:

• Baku - Moscow;
• Baku - Rostov;
• Baku - Kyiv;
• Baku - Tbilisi.

Flights on the routes Baku - Moscow and Baku - Kyiv are carried out weekly. Flight Baku - Rostov needs to be specified in advance, as the train departure schedule is floating. Baku - Tbilisi trains depart daily.

There is a transit ticket office at the Baku station, through which you can buy tickets for trains running through the territory of Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Future projects

The leadership of the Azerbaijan Railways is not going to be limited to the indicated routes. At the moment, the organization is preparing several large-scale projects that will allow the transportation of passengers to other countries and cities.

All of these projects, according to the company, must be implemented before 2022:

• Kars - Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic - Iran through Igdir. This project was announced in 2017. On the part of Azerbaijan, it is planned to reconstruct a 10 km road from Sadarak to the border with Iran and build an additional 7 km section. This route will connect Turkey and Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic.
• The project "North-South", which is agreed between Russia, India and Iran. As a result, an international corridor will be created, the western branch of which will pass through Azerbaijan. The country, in turn, will be connected to Iran through a border bridge. This branch will be called Western.

Finished projects

According to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, a railway connection will be formed from Azerbaijan to Turkey through Georgia, and from Turkey to Europe. All costs were divided between the countries in equal parts. Work on the project began in 2007 and was completed 10 years later. All three countries have agreed that each of them fulfillscertain area of work. On the Azerbaijani side, the road from Marneuli to Akhalkalaki was reconstructed. Work on the part of Georgia began from the specified section to the border with Turkey. On the part of Turkey, the work has not been fully completed - it is planned to establish communication with European countries through this route. The objective will be achieved by building a tunnel under the Bosphorus.

Structure

Today the organization is divided into various associations, services and enterprises that solve various problems related to ensuring the smooth operation of the industry. All links in the chain are managed by the leadership of Azerbaijan Railways, which includes:

• the head of the railway, represented by the chairman of the Society Gurbanov Javid Ganbar oglu;
• deputy chairmen of the Society: Suleymanova Alirza Mammad oglu, Valekhova Hijran Gardashkhan oglu, Novruzova Zaman Midhat oglu, Aslanova Vusal Yusif oglu and Huseynova Igbal Ali oglu.
• engineering staff.

Associations are divided into production and management. The first solve the issues of power supply, track facilities, communications and wagons. The competence of the latter includes the tasks of transportation processes, work and logistics. As for the services, they are responsible for issues of economy, security, billing, labor, service.