The planned Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway Project is a railway project of great strategic importance not only for Türkiye but also for Europe, Azerbaijan and Central Asia. This project constitutes an important part of the Silk Road Economic Belt on the east-west axis.

The Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway will depart from approximately the 12th km of the Kars-Tbilisi railway line and end at the Dilucu Border Gate. This planned route, which is 223.9 km long, includes a total of 5 stations, namely Digor, Tuzluca, Iğdır, Aralık and Dilucu.

This project will serve as an important bridge in reaching trade from Central Asia to Europe and will make significant contributions to the logistics sector. The railway, especially being signalled, electrified and double-tracked, offers great advantages in terms of increasing the carrying capacity and shortening the transportation time. In addition, transportation will be approximately half as fast as sea transportation.

The project will enable faster and safer trade by providing uninterrupted railway access between Europe and Central Asia via Türkiye.

Typical Design of Digor, Tuzluca and Aralık stations

Dilucu Station Design

One of the fundamental elements of Türkiye’s Central Asia and Caucasus strategy is the strengthening of the transportation infrastructure in the region. In this context, the Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway Project is an important project that will strengthen Türkiye’s logistics and trade bridges between Central Asia, the Caucasus and Europe. The project has a strategic meaning not only for Türkiye and Azerbaijan, but also for the entire Turkic World and even global trade.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Türkiye’s historical, cultural and political ties with Azerbaijan and other Turkic republics have gained importance among the countries that gained their independence in the Caucasus and Central Asia. However, the inadequacy of the existing transportation corridors in the region hinders the development of trade and economic relations between these countries. In order to overcome this problem, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Line Project, which was completed in 2017, was an important step. In addition, the Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway Project will further strengthen transportation connections between Central Asia and Europe and solve bottlenecks in the logistics sector.

This project is particularly connected to the Middle Corridor, which can be defined as the modern version of the Silk Road. China’s rising economy and the increasing need for intra-Eurasian trade with the One Belt/One Road initiative necessitate new trade routes. The Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway will be one of the most important transportation routes in the region to meet this need and will offer a new alternative to the Silk Road that extends from London to Beijing. The commissioning of this line will complete the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars line without interruption and will accelerate transit trade from Europe to China.

One of the prominent features of the project is that it provides a direct railway connection between Kars and Nakhchivan. This will end Nakhchivan’s economic isolation and provide stronger transportation connections to Azerbaijan. Projects such as the Zangezur Corridor and the Nakhchivan-Aras Railway will modernize the transportation and trade infrastructure in the region, enabling a more efficient logistics flow between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Türkiye.

Economically, the Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway will create an important logistics line not only for the countries in the region but also for global trade. This line will increase Türkiye’s trade volume with China, Central Asia, Europe and the Caspian region, revitalize the logistics sector in the region and create new business opportunities. In addition, in line with green development goals, the use of electric systems in railway transportation will reduce fossil fuel use and carbon emissions. In this respect, the project will be an important step in Türkiye’s achievement of the Net Zero Emission Target determined within the scope of the Paris Agreement. As a result, the Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway Project will not only improve regional transportation, but also contribute to the modernization of the Silk Road and strengthen Türkiye’s logistics bridge extending from Central Asia and the Caucasus to Europe. With this project, Türkiye will become the center of trade between Asia and Europe and contribute to the rapid development of global trade via the Middle Corridor route.