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Good news: Baku-Tbilisi-Kars now running under the CIM/SMGS consignment note
The Baku – Tbilisi – Kars rail link (BTK) connects Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The 826-kilometre route opened to traffic in October 2017, having taken ten years to build. The BTK links the Azeri and Georgian rail networks with the Turkish rail system, enabling simpler, faster rail links between China, Central Asia and Europe.
Southern Route of the New Silk Road
The BTK enables trains to run seamlessly from Turkey via Georgia to Azerbaijan, where they cross the Caspian Sea before continuing through Kazakhstan to their ultimate destination in China. Since November 2019, container trains have also regularly run in the opposite direction, from China to Europa. The BTK has already become a key component in the southern route of the New Silk Road. The southern route allows goods carried by rail to transit from one side of Eurasia to the other in only 12-16 days. The BTK offers the southern Caucasus region good connectivity and enables it to benefit from its favourable geographic position to become a sought-after land bridge.
Application of the CIM/SMGS consignment note since September 2021
At the OSJD seminar on the practical application of the harmonised CIM/SMGS consignment note on 7-8 July 2021, the Turkish Railways (TCDD) informed participants that an agreement was shortly set to be reached with their domestic customs authorities to use the CIM/SMGS consignment note in traffic along the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail link. This became a reality in late September 2021, when TCDD wrote to inform the OTIF General Secretariat that the Turkish customs authorities have agreed to the use of the CIM/SMGS consignment note in traffic on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars line (BTK) since 14 September 2021. According to TCDD, the CIM/SMGS consignment note will initially be used for movements in both directions along the BTK, with an evaluation to follow later of whether to apply the CIM/SMGS consignment note on other lines.
Further developing the CIM/SMGS project
For several years now, a number of railways have been calling for Turkey to participate in the joint CIT-OSJD project on “Legal interoperability between CIM/SMGS” and for the harmonised CIM/SMGS consignment note to be implemented in international traffic crossing Turkey. Wider use of the CIM/SMGS consignment note by Turkey offers bright prospects, including for multimodal freight movements across the Black Sea.