page_title: Azerbaijan Railways
section_title: Azerbaijan Railways (Azərbaycan Dəmir Yolları) 1991–present
hierarchical_section_title: Azerbaijan Railways / History / Azerbaijan Railways (Azərbaycan Dəmir Yolları) 1991–present
caption_attribution_description: English: Electric locomotive 2M62 (modernization of diesel locomotive) at Baku Station
context_page_description: Azerbaijan Railways is the national state-owned rail transport operator in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The 2,918 km, 1,520 mm gauge network is electrified at 3 kV DC. The headquarters of the Azerbaijan Railways is in the capital Baku.
  Azerbaijan Railways is a successor of Soviet Railways, which itself was the successor of Russian Imperial Railways.
  Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 its railway system broke up into national railway systems of various former Soviet republics from which the independent Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan Railways both emerged in that year.
  The first railway line in Azerbaijan was laid in 1878 and was opened in 1880 in the suburbs outside Baku.
  There are 2,918 km of rail tracks out of which 72% or 2,117 km are single track and 28% or 815 km are double tracks.
  Of the total exploitation length of route 43% or 1,272 km are electrified.
  About 38% of the length of the railway routes or 1,126 km are equipped with full automatic blocks and 16% or 479 km are equipped with centralized dispatchers.
context_section_description: With the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1991, the Azerbaijan State Railways (Azərbaycan Dövlət Dəmir Yolları) was formed the same year.
  Due to the conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan, the railway service in the Armenian occupied areas of Azerbaijan including Nagorno-Karabakh as well as international railway traffic to Armenia has been cut. As a result, 240.4 km of Azerbaijani railway is under Armenian occupation. Thus also no railway traffic exists to the Azerbaijani exclave Nakhchivan which is divided from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenia, but is not under Armenian occupation. The railway traffic into Iran which is only via Nakhchivan is likewise cut. Due to this, international railway traffic between Azerbaijan and Iran is continuing only with Nakhchivan. International railway traffic also exists with the Russian Railways and the Georgian Railway and is scheduled with the Turkish State Railways via Georgia from 2017 onwards.
  In freight traffic, the exportation of oil from the oil wells from Baku at the Caspian Sea to the Georgian port of Batumi at the Black Sea forms an important share of the rail transport in Azerbaijan:
  The freight market share of the Azerbaijan State Railway was 21% in 1999.
  In 2009 the closed joint-stock company "Azerbaijan Railways" (Azәrbaycan Dәmir Yolları Qapalı Səhmdar Cəmiyyəti, "ADY" QSC) - the national operator of the railway network in Azerbaijan with 100% state capital – was founded on the basis of the Azerbaijan State Railways, functionally replacing it.
  The Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway is a regional railway project to directly connect Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The project was scheduled for completion in 2017. Although no additional railway lines will be added in Azerbaijan itself, as this section in Azerbaijan is already double track and electrified, the railway lines will be modernised with the latest technology and brand new and fast rail stock will be added and will replace the old rail stock which are still in service. The freight market share of the railways are also expected to rise rapidly with completion of the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway.
  Stadler is to supply double-deck EMUs to Azerbaijan. An agreement for the supply of five Kiss double-deck electric multiple-units was signed by Stadler Rail CEO Peter Spuhler and Javid Gurbanov, Chairman of national railway ADY, at the TransCaspian 2015 trade fair in Baku on May 13.
  National railway ADDY has placed a €300 million order for 50 Alstom KZ8A twin-section 25 kV AC electric freight locomotives. Also September 7, 2015, Alstom has begun developing the components for AZ8A freight electric locomotives, intended for supply to Azerbaijan.
  ADY has two districts: metropolitan Azerbaijani district, centered on Baku yard, Nakhchivan district, centered on Nakhchivan central station. All passenger operation in metropolitan Azerbaijan is centered in Baku.
caption: E2M62 electric locomotive at Baku station (before modernisation)
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