BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 27. Azerbaijan Railways CJSC forecasts an increase in annual transit traffic to 15 million tons per year by 2030 compared to 6.8 million tons in 2023, the statement of Azerbaijani Railways on social networks said, Trend reports.
The report quotes Anar Gasimov, head of the strategic development department of Azerbaijani Railways, as stating that in case of full implementation of the potential of the interstate project on expansion of the North-South railway corridor (works on the Iranian section), transit traffic by 2030 may reach 30 million tons per year.
“In general, along all directions, Azerbaijani Railways plans to increase transportation from 18.2 million tons (2023 figure) to 30 million tons by 2030 and up to 43 million tons in case of full implementation of the potential of the North-South ITC expansion project,” Gasimov stressed.
The main issue of the North-South ITC railroad expansion is the construction of the Rasht-Astara road section in Iran. Russia, as a sponsor of the construction of this line (VTB Bank gives Iran a loan equivalent to 1.3 billion euros), has intensified relevant negotiations with the new leadership of Iran.
The North-South ITC has several directions, one of them is via Azerbaijan and Iran.
This international multimodal corridor has been developing since 2000.