Turkey on Friday sent off two export trains, one headed to Russia and the other to China, using the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway from the capital Ankara. The train to Russia is the first block train to use the route while the second one, which is carrying boron containers, is the third China-bound freight train.
Both indicate Turkey’s significant place on the modern Silk Route trade and global transportation network. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu, speaking during the send-off ceremony at Ankara Terminal, from where the trains left for their destinations, said the country has become the most strategic connection on the Iron Silk Road.
Karaismailoğlu noted that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project – which is an ambitious initiative connecting China, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and covering a large trade and investment area – is important for Turkey and is an opportunity to expand exports.
With the proactive policies, Turkey has integrated into the world railway transport network in a short time and has now become a strategic part of the Iron Silk Road of the BRI, Karaismailoğlu said.
The BTK line connects Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on the Caspian Sea to Turkey’s eastern border city of Kars via the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Meanwhile, China’s Iron Silk Road connects China to Europe via Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to Baku via train ferries. The trains cross Georgia to enter Turkey via the BTK and then reach the western coast of Turkey before entering Europe.
The first train sent off on the BTK which started its activities on Oct. 30, 2017, opened a new era in the global rail transportation, Karaismailoğlu said.
He said the line reduces the cargo transport time between China and Turkey to 12 days from one month while the integration of the Marmaray tunnel, dubbed “the project of the century,” reduced the transport time between East Asia and Western Europe to 18 days.
The Marmaray tunnel connects Istanbul’s Asian and European sides beneath the Bosporus.
“Our export train, which we are seeing off today, will travel approximately 4,650 kilometers (2,889 miles) to Moscow, its destination in the Russian Federation, using the BTK line. The 3,321 dishwashers, stoves and ovens produced in our country will be transported to the Vladimir Region of Russia in 15 containers loaded in 15 wagons,” Karaismailoğlu said. He said the development in this transport, which was previously carried out via sea and land routes, is the result of the trust shown in Turkey’s railway transportation.
