Contacts: In Baku: Saida Bagirli (+994 12) 4921941 sbagirli@worldbank.org In Washington: Michael Jones (202) 473-2588 mjones2@worldbank.org BAKU, MARCH 27, 2008 – The World Bank today approved a US$450 million Railway Trade and Transport Facilitation Project for the Republic of Azerbaijan that will improve railway services in the country, as well as the competitiveness, financial sustainability, operating and cost efficiency, and capacity of the Azerbaijan Railways (ADDY). The project will target the transport corridor running towards Georgia (East-West corridor). The Railway Trade and Transport Facilitation Project is in support of the implementation of the first phase of the 2008-2011 Program of Railway Modernization of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and will focus on institutional restructuring of the Azerbaijan Railways. The project has four components: · The Rehabilitation of East-West Main Line component will help rehabilitate the track, signaling, and power supply along the east-west corridor. It is expected that some 240 km of mainline track, which is currently in poor condition, will be rehabilitated. Through this investment it will also be possible to remove the most critical speed restrictions and allow ADDY to handle existing and potential traffic at up to 100 km/h for passenger trains and 80 km/h for freight trains without significant track delays on those 240 km. The project will also finance the conversion of the power supply on the East-West corridor to 25 kV. · The New Mainline Locomotives component will finance about 50 new mainline electric locomotives to operate on the East-West corridor. · The Modernization component will help to fully implement the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS), provide Advisory services to ADDY to carry out its modernization program, and provide necessary equipment to ADDY to improve its oil spill prevention and response capacity. · The Project Implementation Component will support the functioning of the Project Implementation Unit. Azerbaijan joined the World Bank in 1992. Since then, commitments to the country total approximately US$1.5 billion for 38 operations. - ### - |
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