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| Switzerland’s Stadler sells FLIRT trains to Azerbaijan for 115 million euros |
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Azerbaijan has purchased two new two-storey passenger trains from Switzerland's Stadler Rail Group company and the trains have already been delivered to Baku, the spokesperson for Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Natavan Bayramova has told local media.
She said the new trains will operate in the direction of Baku-Sumgayit and Baku-Pirshagi. The commissioning of one of the trains is expected in late December 2019, the second - in early January 2020.
The trains have been produced in accordance with the latest technologies and fully meet all modern standards.
Bayramova noted that the new trains have 371 seats, of which 307 are standard seats 62 - business class and nine are first class seats. The reason for the acquisition of new trains is the increase in passenger traffic. The number of Stadler’s trains will increase to nine in the future.
Azerbaijan has signed an agreement to buy six more FLIRT single-storey trains from Stadler. These trains will also be delivered to Baku within the next three years.
Moreover, 10 more trains belonging to the Swiss Stadler will be brought to Baku by 2020 on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route.
Azerbaijan Railways received 20 carriages for passenger transportation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, 10 of which are already in Baku.
Stadler builds trains which are tailored to meet the needs of customers. The company’s trains are reliable and safe, with optimum comfort for the passengers' travels.
Azerbaijan Railways has been cooperating with Swiss Stadler Rail Group since 2015. The Stadler Rail Group focuses on regional and suburban traffic, light S-rail traffic, the tram and rack railway sectors.
A passenger train of 10 wagons intended for operation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is intended to transport one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of freight at the first stage, arrived in Baku on March 29.
The train includes nine passenger cars and a dining car. The train is designed to carry 246 people in one direction and is able to run at a speed of 160 km/h.
Railway departments of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have to make decisions on the days of the week and hours of movement of the trains and on the tickets prices.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was commissioned on October 30, 2017. Currently, this route carries freight. At the initial stage, BTK is expected to carry up to one million passengers.
Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
In related information...
Stadler Rail AG, a leading Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stocks signed an agreement with Azerbaijan Railways, the country’s national railway company (ADY) for the sale of its state-of-the-art FLIRT rolling stock units.
“We are very pleased that ADY has added the FLIRT to its fleet after several orders for different vehicles from Stadler. ADY will have a state-of-the-art vehicle thanks to the five-car trains from the FLIRT family,” Sales Ansgar Brockmeyer, Stadler’s head of sales said in a statement, adding that the FLIRTs will be designed to meet the Russian GOST requirements which are in place in the country.
“The order from the Caspian Sea underlines once again how Stadler can respond to individual customer needs – and demonstrates the versatility of the FLIRT,” the company added.
According to the agreement, ten five-car FLIRT trains will be supplied to ADY for 115 million euros, including four interregional trains that will be configured as interregional trains with diesel-electric propulsion and six electrically-driven trains, with three of them designed for interregional traffic while the remaining three will be used as regional trains for suburban transport.
The contract marks the first time Stadler will deliver FLIRTs for Azerbaijan. Since 2014, ADY has made several orders from the Swiss company, including that of sleeping cars for a train route between Turkey and Azerbaijan, as well as double-decker KISS trains.
This development shall boost Azerbaijan'n economy to another level as strategic way fro Turkey to China trading partner
Reference
https://emerging-europe.com/business
AZERBAIJAN OVERVIEW BY WORLD BANK
Azerbaijan’s economy grew by 2.2 percent in 2019, its best performance since 2014. On the supply side, the hydrocarbon sector stagnated, as surging natural gas output, up by 27.7 percent year on year, was offset by a 3.3 percent decline in oil production.
At the same time, non-energy GDP grew at a solid 3.5 percent, with agriculture and services driving the expansion. On the demand side, investment remained anemic while rising real incomes, as a result of higher government spending, supported consumption.
Azerbaijan's official national poverty rate is low, standing at 5.1 percent in 2018. Given the recent increase in private consumption, the poverty rate is estimated to have fallen further in 2019.
Inflation remained low in 2019 and early 2020, with annual consumer prices edging up to 2.8 percent year on year in February 2020. With inflation within the Central Bank of Azerbaijan's (CBA) target range of 4.2 percent, the CBA continued to lower the policy rate throughout 2019 and early 2020, cutting it to 7.25 percent.
The surpluses on Azerbaijan's external accounts narrowed in 2019. Flat exports and an acceleration in imports reduced the goods trade surplus to 12 percent of GDP in 2019 (from 17 percent in 2018). Similarly, the current account surplus eased to 12 percent of GDP in the first three quarters of 2019.
Last Updated: Apr 17, 2020
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/azerbaijan/overview#3
