Presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey signed a joint declaration in Baku backing the planned Kars–Akhalkalaki–Tbilisi–Baku rail connection, a foundational political commitment for what became the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) project.
Azerbaijan and Georgia signed a financing agreement in Tbilisi for a USD 200 million concessional loan (reported at 1% interest over 25 years) to support construction/rehabilitation work on the Georgian section of the rail link to Turkey.
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey signed the core trilateral agreement to launch construction of the BTK corridor, formalizing the project’s cross-border framework.
The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey marked the start of construction at a ceremony near Tbilisi (Marabda), signaling the project’s transition from agreements into on-the-ground works.
Track-laying began on the Turkish side from Kars, advancing the new-build segment that would connect to Georgia at the border and link onward to Azerbaijan via existing/rehabilitated lines.
Azerbaijans State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) delivered early tranches of the planned loan to Georgia for the BTK project, underscoring Azerbaijan’s role as the primary financier of the Georgian section.
Georgia’s infrastructure minister announced Azerbaijan’s agreement to provide an additional USD 575 million loan to help complete the Georgian railway works, reflecting cost increases and delays during construction.
Officials visited the BTK construction site and laid the foundation for a new railway station in Akhalkalaki, a key technical node for the corridor (including gauge-change logistics between broad and standard gauge networks).
As rehabilitation and construction progressed, project reporting noted successful testing of at least one major structure (a railway bridge) in Georgia, part of the commissioning path toward full operations.
Azerbaijani reporting summarized cumulative SOFAZ support for BTK during 2007–2015 at roughly USD 588 million, illustrating the scale of state-backed funding underpinning the corridor.
A test run (reported as a passenger-train test) traveled from Tbilisi to Akhalkalaki, a late-stage operational milestone ahead of formal commissioning.
Leaders of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia inaugurated the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway at Alat Port/Baku, launching the corridor into service as a new Eurasian freight route linking the South Caucasus with Turkey’s rail network.
Media reported the first official trip following inauguration, with a train traveling onward to Turkey’s Mediterranean port city of Mersin—an early demonstration of end-to-end logistics integration after the opening.
Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway project (1999–2017)
