Summary：BAKU, Oct 12 (Xinhua) -- The construction of a railway linking Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey has been completed, an Azerbaijani railway official said here Thursday

BAKU, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The construction of a railway linking Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey has been completed, an Azerbaijani railway official said here Thursday.

The inauguration of the railway, which runs from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, via the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, to the Turkish city of Kars, will take place at the end of October, said Javid Gurbanov, chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway has gauge-changing facilities in Akhalkalaki, Georgia, Gurbanov said at the Argus Azerbaijan International Petroleum Summit 2017 held in Baku.

He said that the 825 km line would help reduce tariffs and transportation time, while serving as a new freight and passenger link between Europe and China.

The BTK railway, constructed under a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement, has an initial annual transportation capacity of 6.5 million tons of cargo, with a maximum capacity of 17 million tons a year.

Analysts believed the railway line could play a role in the China-proposed global trade mega-project known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Argus Azerbaijan International Petroleum Summit 2017 is one of the key events in the Caspian region, bringing together senior executives from leading crude, petrochemical, trading and transportation companies to analyze the latest industrial trends and development prospects for the near future.