AZERBAIJAN Railways (ADY) reintroduced a weekly passenger service from Baku via Yevlaz to Aghdam on August 30, following the reopening of the southern section of the Yevlax - Barda - Aghdam line in the Karabakh region.
The service is operated by Stadler Flirt DMUs and departs Baku on Saturdays at 07.10, arriving in Aghdam at 11.53. The return trip departs Aghdam at 18.20 and arrives in Baku at 22.55. The trains have four classes, standard, standard plus, business and first, and Wi-Fi is available.
Passenger trains last operated to Aghdam in 1993 when operation was suspended due to hostilities and the occupation of Karabakh. At that time, the 371km overnight journey from Baku took around 8h 30min.
The line is being extended south of Aghdam to Xankandi.
Voltage change
ADY switched over the 122km Ujar - Hajigabul section of the Yevlax - Baku main line from 3kV dc to 25kV ac electrification on September 5, following the successful operation of freight and passenger trains.
The work also included resignalling the section. As part of the project, ADY has introduced a Multi-Process Management (MPM) system which allows signalling, communications, and control processes to operate in parallel. ADY says MPM will enable it to reduce train intervals, increase freight capacity, and contribute to safer, faster, and more reliable operation.
ADY has already converted the 254km Boyuk Kasik - Gandja - Ujar section from 3kV dc to 25kV ac. The final phase covering the 127km section from Hajigabul to Baku will be completed in 2026-27, converting the entire Baku - Boyuk Kasik mainline to ac electrificationn.
“Once completed, this flagship corridor, which carries the bulk of Azerbaijan’s international freight traffic, will be fully modernised in line with global standards and capable of supporting the growing role of the Middle Corridor in Eurasian trade,” ADY says.
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