[2] Expansions costing $795 million were announced in 2012 to respond to the growing demand for rail transport in the country.

[3] Stadler Rail and local partner International Railway Distribution LLC announced the formation of a 51:49 joint venture on July 17, 2014.

[citation needed] The first long-distance railway line was opened in 1883, which led from Baku to Tbilisi in Georgia.

[citation needed] In 1941 the railway line was also extended southwards to Astara, Azerbaijan at the southern border with Iran.

The Azerbaijani branch of the Soviet Railways was divided into three departments of Baku, Gəncə and Nakhchivan City.

In 1988, during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, territories of Azerbaijan with 240 km of rail tracks were occupied by Armenia.

The railway link connecting the city Nakhchivan of Azerbaijan with other Azerbaijani regions was broken in 1991.

Keshle, Ganja and Khirdalan stations are able to supply high cube cargo containers.

Plans to expand the metro are under way, with additional subway systems to be constructed in Azerbaijan's most populated and developed cities.

Its opening ceremony was held on November 6, 1967, with the first stretch, 6.5 km long between Baki Soveti and Narimanov.

The importance of the project is offering the most cost-effective transportation for the logistics sector that seeks a more economical way of delivering goods to target markets.

[citation needed] On October 30, 2017, an inauguration ceremony for the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) railroad was held in Alyat, 70 kilometres (43 mi) southwest of Baku.

[15][16] The North–South corridor, with a length of 7,200 kilometres (4,500 mi), is designed to carry more than 20 million tons per year from India, Iran and other Persian Gulf countries to the territory of Russia (the Caspian Sea) and further on to Northern and Western Europe[citation needed].

[citation needed] 369 kilometres (229 mi) of bridges and railway lines to link the southern sections to the northern ones will be constructed within the framework of the project.

[citation needed] The current sea route via the frontiers of Western Europe, through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, takes 40 days.