On the surface, the announcement in late January 2026 seemed like a dry piece of bureaucratic housekeeping: the European Union, Azerbaijan, and the EBRD had signed off on a feasibility study for a railway linking Azerbaijan’s mainland to its isolated exclave of Nakhchivan. But in the corridors of power in Brussels and Baku, the project is being spoken of in far more epic terms. It is the latest move in a high-stakes geopolitical chess game intended to pivot the center of gravity for global trade away from traditional northern routes. This isn’t just about track and ballast; it is a direct response to a world of “permacrisis.
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