Azerbaijan Railways

Azerbaijan Railways
Company typeClosed joint-stock company
IndustryTransport
Founded2009
Headquarters,
Area served
Azerbaijan, CIS Countries, Baltic states, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Iran
Key people
Rovshan Rustamov
ServicesRail Transport
OwnerRepublic of Azerbaijan
Number of employees
+17,000
WebsiteAzerbaijan Railways Official Site
Azerbaijan railway map 2023
Overview
Dates of operation1991–current
PredecessorRussian Imperial Railways 1878-1917
Soviet Railways 1917-1991
(the predecessors of Azerbaijan Railways)
Technical
Track gauge1,520 mm (4 ft 11+2732 in)
ElectrificationkV (3,000 V) DC
Length2,918 km (1,813 mi)
Stadler ESh-020 electric multiple unit at Baku
Stadler ESh2 at Bakikhanov Station
Baku suburban railway and metro map

Azerbaijan Railways (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Dəmir Yolları) is the national state-owned rail transport operator in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The 2,918 km (1,813 mi), 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+2732 in) gauge network is electrified at 3 kV (3,000 V) DC.[1] The headquarters of the Azerbaijan Railways is in the capital Baku.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 its railway system broke up into national railway systems of various former Soviet republics, from which the independent Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan Railways both emerged in that year.

The first railway line in Azerbaijan was laid in 1878 and was opened in 1880 in the suburbs outside Baku.[2]

The railway has 176 stations, 2 of which Biləcəri (in Baku) and Şirvan are completely automated, 12 stations have container courts with adapted mechanisms and machines, 3 stations – Keşlə (in Baku), Gəncə and Xırdalan are able to supply high cargo containers.

Along with the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway, a regional rail link project that directly connects Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan since 2017, the railway lines are being modernised in Azerbaijan with new fast rail stock to replace the old rail stock.[3]

  1. ^ "Azerbaijan Railways". Indexmundi. 2021-09-18. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  2. ^ "The railway transport". www.azerbaijans.com.
  3. ^ "Recent Developments in the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Project".