Kazakhstani shippers will gain additional opportunities to ship products to Turkey and Europe following the opening of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) railway, according to the press service of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The railway is a key element of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), providing direct connectivity between the rail networks of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. The Ministry noted that BTK infrastructure development will strengthen Kazakhstan's transit potential, increase international traffic volumes, and improve supply chain efficiency across Eurasia. The railway is 827 kilometers long and has been operating in test mode since 2017.
From May 2023 to May 2024, a large-scale infrastructure upgrade was carried out. Following reconstruction, the capacity of the BTK railway increased fivefold, from 1 million to 5 million tons of freight per year.