Baku-Tbilisi-Kars train completes first trip

ASTANA. KAZINFORM A train service that will connect Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia completed its first official trip on Saturday.

The first train from Kazakhstan arrived in the Turkish city of Mersin via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway (BTK).

The train covered 4,200 kilometers from Kazakhstan to Mersin carrying 600 tons of wheat. It made its first stop in Turkey on Friday in northeastern Kars province and covered the rest 1,258 kilometers in 30 hours to reach Mersin.

The construction of the 826-kilometer Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project began in 2008.

On Monday, the train began its first official trip after an inauguration ceremony in Baku, attended byTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov and Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili.