According to a Reuters, Turkey has broken ground on a new railway connecting its northeastern Kars province with Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave. The project comes in the wake of the US-brokered peace deal signed earlier this month between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The 224-kilometer line will run from Turkey’s Dilucu border gate to Nakhchivan and link to the main rail network in Kars. Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, said the line will be capable of carrying 5.5 million passengers and 15 million tons of cargo annually.
The railway is part of the broader Southern Caucasus transit corridor, also branded the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, which will pass through southern Armenia to connect mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan and onward to Turkey. The United States has secured exclusive development rights for the corridor, which is expected to boost energy exports and regional trade.
Uraloglu emphasized that the project would “strengthen economic cooperation between Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, and reinforce regional peace,” adding that it will help open borders and normalize diplomatic ties. Turkey recently secured €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) in green financing for the project from lenders including Japan’s MUFG Bank, Sweden’s EKN, Austria’s OeKB export credit agencies, and a unit of the Islamic Development Bank.
Once sections of the railway in Armenia, Nakhchivan, and mainland Azerbaijan are completed, officials expect the line to enhance an emerging trade route stretching from China to Britain, bypassing Russia and Iran.
