Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project will contribute to the diversification of Azerbaijan’s economy and turn it into a regional center, Turkey’s ambassador to Azerbaijan Ismail Alper Coskun told reporters.

He said there can be delays for economic and technical reasons in the implementation of such major projects.

"Nevertheless, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia have expressed their will to implement this project,” Coskun said, adding that despite the slight delays, the BTK project will be carried out.

"Compared to the energy projects, this is a longer-term project which will bring great results,” said the ambassador, adding that Azerbaijan is in the center of this project.

The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) finances the project in accordance with the Azerbaijani president’s decree 'On the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project activities' dated February 21, 2007.

A new 105-kilometer branch of the railroad is being constructed as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the railway's Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi section is under reconstruction in Georgia that will increase its capacity to 15 million metric tons of cargo per year. A post is under construction in Akhalkalaki for the transition of trains from the existing tracks in Georgia to the European ones.

A test train is expected to run on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway by late 2014 and it is planned to complete the implementation of the project in 2015.

The peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million metric tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, this figure will be equal to one million passengers and 6.5 million metric tons of cargo.

ANN.Az