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Azeri railways mainly transport oil

By Messenger Staff
Wednesday, August 4
In the first half of 2010 Azeri railways' freight turnover reached almost 7.5 million tonnes. Out of this amount, up to 6 million tonnes are oil and oil products. Of this 3.3 million tonnes transited via Georgia, as the figures show the major products transported by Azeri railways are oil and oil products, which is almost 80% of its total turnover. Apart from its local oil, Azerbaijan railways also transports Kazakh oil. During the first half of 2010, Kazakhstan increased the volume of its oil transported to the Georgian port of Batumi by 23%. Some Russian analysts highlight the negative aspects of transporting oil using Azerbaijan railways. They claim that railway track in Azerbaijan is rundown, thus reducing the average speed of the transportation of the cargo. The Russians claim the average speed is currently 30 km/hour.