2024-08-14 14:58:39
In 1880-1882, the construction of railways in the territory of Azerbaijan was led by the prominent railway engineer N.G. Garin-Mikhailovsky (1852-1906), Day.Az reports with reference to Azerhistory.
Nikolay Georgievich Garin-Mikhailovsky graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Railways. Under his leadership, railways were built in Russia, Bulgaria, and the Caucasus. He gained fame thanks to his abilities and business qualities during the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Working in Azerbaijan, he achieved maximum efficiency and, at the same time, low cost of construction.
Beginning in 1874, four projects for the Tiflis-Baku railway were drawn up. In December 1879, construction work began on the basis of one selected by a special commission. The 550 km long highway was built in three and a half years. Three large and ten small stations, 15 large bridges, two tunnels were built along the route, and a total of 48.58 versts (51.5 km) of reserve and second tracks were laid.
On May 8, 1883, the Baku-Ganja-Tiflis railway was put into operation. The operator of the road was the Transcaucasian Railways joint-stock company, which had previously financed its construction. The company’s headquarters were in Tiflis. Now Baku oil was quickly and conveniently delivered to the Black Sea coast – to the port of Poti, which already had a railway connection with Tiflis.
However, this Black Sea port was not designed to receive large volumes of oil. Therefore, in a short time, a railway line was laid from Tiflis to the more convenient port of Batum, and the port itself was equipped with the appropriate equipment. This led, on the one hand, to an increase in the volume of oil exported from Baku, and on the other, to the emergence of direct rail communication between the shores of the Caspian and Black Seas.
The main source of income for the Transcaucasian Railway was the transportation of oil and oil products. It is no coincidence that special attention was paid to the technical modernization of the road, equipping stations with modern equipment for pumping oil into tanks, and purchasing tank cars.
Oil transportation by rail near Hajigabul station. 1900s.
The special committee on railway oil transportation included the prominent Azerbaijani engineer Farrukh-bek Vezirov.
Vezirov was born in 1861 to the family of lawyer Hamid-bek Vezirov, a representative of a famous Karabakh family. In 1881, Farrukh-bek graduated from the Baku Real School and entered the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, which trained personnel in the field of mining and was one of the prestigious universities of that time.
In 1886, Farrukh-bek graduated from this educational institution, becoming one of the first Azerbaijani certified mining engineers. From 1887, he worked in the civil service, was one of the permanent members of the committee responsible for the transportation of oil by rail.
At the 17th Congress of Baku Oil Industrialists, he presented a report on promising methods of oil transportation. In the mid-1890s, the railway line already accounted for a third of Baku oil exports. Transportation by rail led to a reduction in the cost of oil: now the delivery of a pood of oil from Baku to London cost 72.4 kopecks. In this regard, it is no coincidence that between 1877 and 1894, the volume of oil transportation increased 50 times.
In 1902, the volume of oil transported by rail amounted to 88,224,680 poods. Rail transport also accounted for the bulk of the export of kerosene produced in Baku. Thus, 507.8 million poods of kerosene out of 516.8 million poods exported from Baku in 1900-1903 fell to the share of rail transport.
Three categories of trains ran on the Baku-Tiflis highway: freight (including tanks), freight-passenger and passenger. Freight-passenger trains ran 6 times a week and covered the distance from Baku to Tiflis in 27 hours.
Express passenger trains departed once a week and reached their destination in 21 hours, and later in 18 hours. Within Azerbaijan, 4 depots were built on the route, of which Balajar was the largest in the Caucasus. In 1890, 50 million poods of cargo were sent from Baku station, and 21 million from other Azerbaijani stations.
The construction of the Baku-Tiflis main line led to a sharp increase in the profits of the Transcaucasian Railway. The amount of profits extracted in 1884-1894 was 6 times higher than the figures for 1874-1884. If in 1874 the profit was 1.4 million rubles, then in 1893 it was 19 million rubles, and in 1904 it was 33 million rubles. In 1904, the Transcaucasian Railway transported 292.7 million poods of cargo and 6,085,754 passengers, compared to 8 million poods and 368 thousand passengers in 1874.
Hajigabul Railway Station. 1900.
In addition, in 1900, the freight turnover of the Baku station increased by 12.9% compared to the previous year, and the throughput of tanks increased by 12% and amounted to 134,470 units. During the period 1893-1900, the volume of transportation of petroleum products increased 13 times.
Neither the government nor the railway designers expected such volumes of oil and oil products transportation. On the other hand, the state and private capital sought to extract maximum profit from the railway. At the 1st Congress of Baku Oil Industrialists, it was noted that Baku’s industry would acquire a transnational character with access to the European market.
Not only oil and oil products were transported by rail. In 1893, 98% of cotton exports and 94.5% of rice exports were transported by rail. During the years 1883-1900, the freight turnover of the Baku-Tiflis railway increased 8-fold against 3-fold growth on other Russian railways.
The outstanding Azerbaijani educator, pioneer of the Azerbaijani press, Hasan-bek Zardabi (1837-1907), listing the factors that had the greatest impact on the Azerbaijani economy, put the emergence of the oil industry in first place, and the construction of the Baku-Tiflis railway in second place.
In 1893, all railways on the territory of the Russian Empire were transferred to the Ministry of Railways. Management of railways, loading and unloading operations began to be carried out according to a single technical regulation and rules.
In 1896, permission was received to build the Port-Petrovsk (Makhachkala) – Derbent railway, and in 1897, the Baku – Derbent line. The economic justification for this line emphasized the urgent need for a short route for the export of goods from Baku to Russia.
Railway bridge across the Samur River. 1901.
In 1900, the construction of the Baku-Balajari-Derbent-Port-Petrovsk railway was completed, on which there was one depot within Azerbaijan. This event caused a sharp increase in the volume of Baku oil exported to Russia: if in 1883 this figure was 12.5 million poods, then in 1901 it was 51.6 million poods.
In 1913, 21,836,175 poods of grain, 4,861,241 poods of grapes and wine products, and 507,673 poods of alcohol were transported by rail. In 1908, the Ulukhanly-Sharur-Julfa railway line was built, which was later connected to the Tiflis-Alexandropol (Gyumri)-Erivan highway.
As a result, the railway network covered the western Azerbaijani lands. The construction of the Ulukhanli-Julfa line caused concern in Europe, since this step served as a manifestation of the expansion of the Russian Empire to the south, the desire for economic enslavement of Iran. The new railway line played an important role in the export of goods to Iran. Already in 1908, 1,509,610 poods of goods were received at the Julfa station, of which 237,555 poods were kerosene.
In 1906, a project for a Baku-Lankaran railway was developed, but due to lack of funds, it was not implemented.
According to the materials of the researcher of Azerbaijani architecture Sh. Fatullayev-Figarov, the main railway and station buildings of Azerbaijan were designed in 1881 in St. Petersburg. The railway buildings and station squares of such key stations as Baku, Khadzhigabul and Ganja were designed separately. At the same time, all the railway and station buildings of Azerbaijan were designed in the oriental style, and local materials were used in the construction.
In general, the buildings of the Baku, Hadjigabul, Ganja, Khachmaz, Derbent, Nakhchivan, Julfa railway stations were deprived of the classical features of the railway stations of that time with their high ceilings and spacious rooms, distinguished by their unique architecture. The Baku railway station belonged to the 1st class, Hadjigabul and Ganja – to the 2nd class of railway stations.