Azerbaijan Railways (ADY) is upgrading the Sumgayit-Yalama double-track railway line.

Following the opening in the late February 2022 of a 23-km segment, the remaining 31.4 km of the line is expected to be commissioned shortly.

The work is organised in a way that requires closure of one of the tracks for train traffic. Once the work is completed, the reconstruction of the other track will be initiated.

The upgrading of the Sumgayit-Yalama line is a joint project of the Government of Azerbaijan, Asian Development Bank, and the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement). A joint venture comprising the Turkish Kolin İnşaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret and Kazakhstani Integra Construction KZ is responsible for the design and construction work, with engineering supervision provided by the German companies Kocks Consult and SSF Ingenieure.

The scope of work includes dismantling 87 km of old track, replacement of the substructure and the ballast layer, and installation of the new track panels. By now, the first layer of ballast has been poured on 70.5 km of the line, with all ballast layers and new track panels already in place on 65 km. In addition to the track works, the design documents cover the construction of 37 bridges, 81 culverts, and 7 animal crossings.

The Sumgayit-Yalama line is part of the North-South international transport corridor and crosses the territory of Azerbaijan from the Iranian border in the south to the Russian border in the north. The corridor has a great potential as an alternative to the sea route from India to Europe via the Suez Canal.