Azerbaijan Railways

"Azerbaijan Railways" Closed Joint-Stock Company () is the national state-owned rail transport company in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The total length of the rail network is , with a  rail gauge which is electrified at 3 kV (3,000 V) DC. The headquarters of the Azerbaijan Railways is in the capital Baku.

The Azerbaijan Railways was made from the Soviet Railways. The Soviet Railways itself came after the Russian Imperial Railways.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, its railway system broke up into national railway systems of many countries which used to be in the Soviet Union. The Republic of Azerbaijan became independent the same year and the Azerbaijan Railways was made.

The first railway line in Azerbaijan was laid in 1878 and was opened in 1880 in the suburbs outside Baku.

There are  kilometers of railway tracks out of which 72% or  kilometers are single railway tracks and 28% or  kilometers are double railway tracks which are laid next to each other.

Of the total length of the railway routes 43% or  are electrified.

About 38% of the length of the railway routes or  has full automatic railway signaling systems and 16% or  are supported by the communications and repair employees who are responsible for getting and giving the right and trustworthy messages to the train drivers and railway stations on time, and following and repairing the trains and railway equipment.

The railway has 176 railway stations, 2 of which Biləcəri (in Baku) and Şirvan are completely automatic, 12 stations have extra places in railway storage areas for cargo containers with adapted mechanisms and machines, 3 stations – Keşlə (in Baku), Gəncə and Xırdalan are able to supply many cargo containers.

Of the total length of the railway routes 72% or  are for public transport and does not include railway routes for freight rail transport.

A lot of the railway track and trains have to be repaired or replaced. However, with the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway, a regional rail link project that directly connects Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, which was completed and opened in 2017, the railway lines are getting more modern in Azerbaijan with the newest technology and new and fast trains. These will replace the old trains which are still being used. The freight market share of the railways are also expected to rise quickly with the completion of the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway in 2017.

The total length of the Azerbaijan Railways ranks 57th in length among the countries in the world.

International railway links with neighboring countries 
  Russia -  gauge.
  Georgia -  gauge - also new  standard gauge link to Turkey (under construction -  due to be completed in 2012).
  Iran - change of gauge  - .
  Turkey - no link - change of gauge  - also new  standard gauge via Georgia (under construction - due to be completed in 2012).
  Armenia -  gauge - closed for political reasons.

References

Other websites
 Azerbaijan Railways Official Site  
 Gallery and Information of the Electric Locomotives of the Azerbaijan Railways  
 Schematic Map of the Azerbaijan Railway Network 
 Gallery and Information of the Electric Locomotives of the Azerbaijan Railways 

Rail transport in Azerbaijan
Rail transport in Asia
Rail transport in Europe
Train operating companies
Transport in Azerbaijan
1991 establishments in Azerbaijan
1990s establishments in Azerbaijan