Azerbaijan, Russia create JV on grain supply

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and Rusagrotrans CJSC, Russia's rail infrastructure operator providing transportation of grain and agricultural bulk cargoes agreed to create a joint venture AzRusTrans CJSC.

Appropriate documents were signed at a meeting in Baku on October 10.

The new company was created with the aim of increasing share of rail transportation in freight turnover between Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia and Turkey.

Speaking at the presentation of the joint venture, head of Azerbaijan Railways Javid Gurbanov touched upon the work over the North-South Transport Corridor.

Construction of the railway line from the station Astara to the border with Iran in the framework of the Corridor is completed by 90 percent, he said.

The work is carried out in conjunction with the Iranian side, and it will be completed in a month.

Currently, seven of the 8.3 km of railroad is already completed, and work on the remaining area is close to completion, said Gurbanov. “Moreover, work on construction of a bridge across the Astarachay river is also being finalized – all supports of the bridge are already built, as well as construction of access roads.”

The implementation of the North-South Transport Corridor project envisages linking-up of railways of Azerbaijan, Iran, and Russia. Some five million tons of freight per year is expected to be transported by means of the corridor in the initial stage.

The North-South corridor, from India to Helsinki, with a length of 7,200 kilometers is designed to carry more than 20 million tons per year. It is a multimodal route for transportation of passengers and cargo from Russia's St. Petersburg to the Mumbai port.

Loads on the route will move through the territory of India, and then - the Persian Gulf, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, in the direction of the Nordic countries and Northern Europe in just 14 days.

The North-South route enjoys several advantages compared to other transport corridors; it is more profitable for each parameter than other alternative routes, such as the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea-Northern Europe, and the Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan-Russia-Northern Europe routes.

The project is of strategic importance for the region.