A NEW connection between Central Asia and Europe opened on October 30 when the 849km-long Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway opened. The new 1435mm-gauge section of line comprises 76kms, connecting the Turkish network with Kartsakhi in Georgia via a 4.4km-long tunnel under the mountainous border itself, and a further 29km of 1,435mm-gauge line in Georgia to connect at Akhalkalaki (Georgia) with a previously built (mid-1980s), but out of use, 153km 1,520mm-gauge branch line to Marabda, 23km south of Tbilisi.
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