LOC10:04
07:04 GMT
ISTANBUL, Nov 3 (KUNA) -- A train loaded with wheat has arrived in Turkey marking the first railway trip on the recently-launched line, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, coming from Azerbaijan.
The official Andolu news agency reported on Friday that the train that took off, on Monday, at the Azeri Alat port arrived in the Turkish town Kars, late on Thursday.
This was the first trip on the new key railway, dubbed "the railway silk road," inaugurated on October 30. The 826-kilometre (500-mile) railroad stretches from Azerbaijan's capital Baku via the Georgian capital Tbilisi to Kars.
The wheat cargo will be shifted to the Mediterranean port in Mersin, Turkey.
Veysi Kurt, General Director at Turkish State Railroad Company, who was on board of the trip, said in a statement to the local media that the train crossed some 856 kilometers in 40 hours.
Kars is located 1,258 kms from Mersin.
The strategic railway transports one million passengers and a cargo of 5.6 million tons per year. (end)
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