Azerbaijan Railways (ADY) is looking back at 2024 with a sense of success. The company seeks to develop the Middle Corridor and International North – South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which helps the country diversify its economy. With developing infrastructure, growing volumes and international agreements, ADY seems positive about the progress made.
The raw numbers show an upward trend for various segments of ADY’s business: transit freight volumes grew by 5,7 per cent to 7,3 million tonnes in 2024. The volume of imports grew by 10 per cent to 5,2 million tonnes. More than 3,2 million tonnes transited Azerbaijan along the important East – West axis. ADY reports large growth numbers for various categories of freight, with oil and petroleum imports showing an 89 per cent increase. Throughout all of 2024, the operator transported 18,5 million tonnes of freight.
ADY highlights the launch of the first Chinese container block train to Azerbaijan’s capital city Baku via the Middle Corridor: an illustrative example of its international success. The train made its way from Xi’an to Azerbaijan in 11 days. In total, 358 container block trains were sent from China on their way to Azerbaijan. More than 27,000 containers from China travelled along the Middle Corridor in 2024, which is a 25-fold increase compared to 2023, according to ADY.
International effort
The rail operator points out that it has made a major international effort to make these developments possible: participation in the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars railway, the establishment of a “Eurasian Transport Route” association, and joint ventures with Kazakhstan and Georgia all helped to turn 2024 into a success, the company says.
ADY has not been sitting still for the near future either, it explains. “The completion of the Horadiz – Aghband project, construction of a new railway between the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave and Türkiye, the modernisation of Nakhchivan’s railway network, and the establishment of a railway connection between Nakhchivan and other parts of Azerbaijan will ultimately create another branch of the Middle Corridor.”
Russia and Iran
At the same time, the company signed an agreement with Russia to develop rail infrastructure along the INSTC in December. ADY’s leadership also went on a working visit to Iran, in order to discuss the development and management of the Astara terminal, a key logistics hub along the INSTC.
The ultimate goal is to grow volumes along the East – West and North – South corridors by no less two to four times by 2030, ADY specifies. To make that happen, “ADY focuses on prioritising strategic cargo transportation, efficient customer relations, dynamic tariffs, digitalisation, supply chain expansion, new service development, market access, and forming partnerships such as associations, consortiums and joint ventures”, the rail operator says.