Batumi-Kazakhstan railway line opens

Batumi-Kazakhstan railway line opens: An introductory meeting was held in Trabzon for the Batumi-Kazakhstan Almaty railway wagon transportation, which will be started by the Georgian railways as of February 1.
In his speech at the meeting held at the service building, Ahmet Hamdi Gürdoğan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Eastern Black Sea Exporters Association (ODİB), stated that they believe that the railway line will make a significant contribution to foreign trade as an alternative route to Central Asia and said, “This railway line is from Batumi It is also important that it will extend to Kazakhstan and even to China. Within the framework of the importance we attach to the creation of alternative and new routes in our exports and in parallel with the work we have done on this subject, it is a very important development for us that it will be reached at a lower cost than other transportation systems from the Eastern Black Sea to Kazakhstan by rail, even below half the price. .
Gürdoğan emphasized that it is a confirmation of how right the idea of ​​the Hopa-Batum railway connection of the Eastern Black Sea via Georgia, which they have been consulting and insisting on, for years, continued as follows:
“In the initiatives we have made since 1998, we have insisted that the connection of our region to the railway network in terms of our international trade should be provided with a 20-kilometer Hopa-Batum Railway connection due to the reports of the Ministry of Transport that this line is feasible, but since that day, unfortunately, the people who cannot understand the importance of the issue are only thinking. They brought up the lines that would not have any contribution to our country and our region in order to confuse them and divert their targets. The railway projects, which were almost a dream to realize, were tried to be launched for our region and the connection of our region to the railway network was prevented in a short time. "
Gürdoğan stated that the railway line activated by Georgia would make a significant contribution to foreign trade.
"Exporters in our country and in our region will have the opportunity to ship their cargoes to Batumi by road or by sea from here by rail wagons or containers to the Central Asian Region or even to China, or the imported products will be unloaded to Batumi on the same route, will be brought to our country from here by land. In other words, this system will make a great contribution to the road transport in our region, making the ports in our region more active, that is, providing a load potential for both segments. In addition, the active use of the Batumi-Central Asia railway line and the Kars-Tbilisi line in the near future will also raise awareness for our region and reveal the necessity of re-establishing the Hopa-Batum railway connection, and we, as the proponents of this idea, will please us. We request the necessary work to start as soon as possible. "
If Trabzon Consul General of Georgia Paata Kalandadze said that the railway project a very positive meeting, "this project for joint efforts between Turkey and Georgia will be very important. The project will make a significant contribution to Trabzon and the region ”.
The Georgian Railway authorities gave various information about the project.