In Turkey, construction has begun on the 224 km railway line between Kars in north-eastern Turkey and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan. The direct railway link is due to be completed by 2030. The double-track and fully electrified railway link will reduce the journey time by almost one and a half hours. The line will connect to the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars (BTK) corridor, which links Azerbaijan with Turkey via Georgia. A key factor for the success of the line is the opening of the Zangezur Corridor, which would connect Azerbaijan with its exclave via Armenian territory. However, due to the tense relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the realisation of this corridor is unlikely.
