On 9 February 2021, the first container train arrived at the Freight Village Vorsino terminal in the Kaluga region, following from Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi- Kars (BTK) international railway line.

The transportation was organised by the “RZD Logistics” JSC (a subsidiary of the Russian Railways JSC) and the Turkish logistics operator Pasifik Eurasia Lojistik Dis Ticaret A.S.

The train loaded with 15 40-foot containers with household appliances (dish- washers and gas stoves) departed from Marshandiz station (Ankara, Turkey) to the Akhalkalaki border station (Georgia). There the containers were reloaded from flat wagons of 1435 mm track gauge onto the 1520-mm flat wagons to proceed further through Georgia and Azerbaijan to the destination station in Russia – Vorsino (Kaluga region).

With the launch of a railway container service between Turkey and Russia, new opportunities are opening up for the delivery of goods between the countries located along a seamless land route, which ensures high speed and safety of transportation.

The basis for organising this container train service along this route was laid down by the trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation in the development of railway transportation, signed in May 2019 by the heads of railway companies of Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey, which provides for joint actions to ensure regular railway transportation on the Baku-Tbilisi- Kars route, including setting economically feasible tariffs and attracting new freight flows.