EIB and Azerbaijan Railways complete first cooperation to boost railway safety with EU funding
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU’s long-term financing institution, announced today that it has completed a 10-month assignment helping Azerbaijan to improve railway safety and reliability.
The EIB’s advisory support, the first one completed under the Facility for Eastern Partnership Investment in Connectivity (EPIC), resulted in recommendations that will guide Azerbaijan Railways in a project to improve operational safety while reducing travel times, costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
The EIB helped Azerbaijan Railways in enhancing safety at existing level crossings along the important Baku-Boyuk Kesik rail route. This is a 503-kilometre line that links the capital city and Port of Baku with the rail network of neighbouring Georgia and continues to the Black Sea. It is part of the core TEN-T network in Azerbaijan and serves as an important link, especially for cargo transport, along the Middle Corridor.
“I am confident that the guidance from our advisors will enhance the project’s development, focusing on improving safety and minimising environmental impact for this vital railway connection, benefitting both Azerbaijan and the region,” said EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska, who is responsible for the Bank’s activities in the region.
“Azerbaijan’s strategic location, infrastructure development efforts, and potential for enhancing trade and economic cooperation make the country a strategic partner in the context of the extended Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), contributing strongly to better connectivity, better economic development, and better regional integration,” European Union Ambassador to Azerbaijan Peter Michalko said. “The EU works hand in hand with Azerbaijan and with the EIB on key transport and infrastructure projects. We will continue to offer technical assistance, loans, guarantees for infrastructure development, greening, digitalisation as well as to strengthen transport governance.”
Funded by the European Union and managed by EIB advisory programme JASPERS, EPIC offers Eastern Partnership countries free advisory support and technical assistance to improve transport connections. Currently under EPIC, the EIB is providing advisory support or technical assistance to ten projects in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine.
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