Azerbaijani Minister of Transportation Ziya Mammadov stated Thursday activating the Baku-Tblisi-Kars railway project after Marmaray, would provide a new direct railway connection for Europe and Asia through Caucausus.
Speaking in the panel 'Caspian Transit Corridor: Revival of the Silk Road' as part of the 3rd Caspian Forum in Ciragan Palace in Turkey's Istanbul city, which is organized by Caspian Strategic Institute, Mammadov said they worked on building the complete infrastructure of the railway project and buying new wagons to give further opportunity for high speed train connections in the future.
"Besides, the port building continues, what we also plan to make the center for logistic," Mammadov said adding that plans were already made to double the cargo transported on this route.
Mammadov noted that multi-model transportation would be provided in the Caspian region along with the new tankers, brought into service to speed up the marine transport.
Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Natia Mikeladze stated new land routes developed their transportation and shipment facilities between Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Marmaray project, the greatest project connecting Asia and Europe with an uninterrupted railway transportation under the Istanbul strait was opened by the participation of Turkish President Abdullah Gul and PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the 90th anniversary of the foundation of Republic of Turkey, on October 29.
The project is called as the Project of the Century and introduces many firsts to the world in terms of the innovations. 13.6-kilometer-long tunnel links Asian and European sides and it is 60 meters below the sea. It takes 4 minutes to cross from the European side to the Asian side.
The idea of the railway tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait was first introduced by Ottoman Sultan Abdulmajid in 1860.
The rest of the Marmaray tunnel will be opened by 2015, which will have the capacity to carry 75,000 people per hour in either direction.
The Caspian Forum is a platform that explores the economic, political and strategic potential of the Caspian region. While defining areas of collaboration and partnership with the spirit of the win-win principle. The forum brings influential voices of the academic, business and policy world together today foundations for a prosperous secure and democratic region.
Theme of the Caspian Forum Istanbul 2013 is 'Defining the Caspian,' where ministers and officials from several countries will attend the forum throughout the day, which will end with a Gala Dinner on Thursday evening.
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