China-Europe ‘missing link’ rail line opens

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A new 826-kilometer rail line connecting Asia and Europe through the Caucasus was opened on Monday, a further step in the revival of the ancient Silk Road routes and modernization of Eurasian transport networks.

Plans for the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) rail link preceded the Belt and Road Initiative, but the “Middle Corridor” route through Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia fits the China-led project’s aims of increased regional connectivity and economic growth through infrastructure investment.

Leaders of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia attend the inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway on October 30, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The link was inaugurated in Baku, capital city of Azerbaijan, which is fast developing into a trade and logistics hub thanks to its port on the Caspian Sea.

Freight trains can now travel from China through Kazakhstan, arriving at New Baku Port after crossing the Caspian Sea on a rail ferry to be loaded onto the BTK and journey onward to Europe through Georgia and Turkey.

The BTK line, which is expected to halve journey times from China to Turkey to 15 days, was described as “the missing link between the European and Asian transport corridors" by Turkish Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan in an interview with Anadolu News Agency.

Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey

The project’s total cost of more than one billion US dollars was largely met with financing from the countries the BTK traverses – Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia.

“Baku-Tbilisi-Kars is part of a big Silk Road and it’s important that we have implemented this project using our own funds,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said at the inauguration ceremony on Monday.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev, prime ministers Giorgi Kvirikashvili of Georgia, Bakytzhan Sagintayev of Kazakhstan and Abdulla Aripov of Uzbekistan at the inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway on October 30. /Reuters Photo

The railway line will have the capacity to annually transport one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of freight initially, but both measures are expected to increase.

"The BTK is the shortest and most reliable route connecting Europe with Asia," Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said.

The ‘Middle Corridor’

China signed a memorandum of understanding on aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with Turkey’s Middle Corridor Initiative in November 2015.

Erdogan said that with the inauguration of the BTK project "the key leg of the Middle Corridor has now been completed."

The Turkish initiative aims to revive the ancient Silk Road by creating economic corridors that incorporate the Caucasus and the Central Asian states via the Caspian Sea.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) holds talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, May 13, 2017. /Xinhua Photo‍

"Realization of a Modern Silk Road, in other words connecting 'London to Beijing' using the Middle Corridor, will contribute not only to our bilateral trade volume but also to our cooperation in the region," Ayse Sinirlioglu, Turkish Foreign Ministry's deputy undersecretary for economic affairs, told Xinhua in late 2016.

Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia are all active participants in the China-initiated Belt and Road Initiative.

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