The count moves at the speed of a train. On 2 September APA put the cumulative diesel at nearly 15,000 tonnes and the petrol at about 5,000; on Saturday the diesel stood at about 16,000. Three days, about 1,000 tonnes, in the agency's rounded figures.
The transit series grew with it. By Saturday, APA says, about 60,000 tonnes of Russian grain had crossed Azerbaijan for Armenia to date, up from more than 55,000 in the 2 September count, along with about 9,000 tonnes of fertiliser, 1,414 tonnes of propane, 133 tonnes of aluminium, 1,114 tonnes of coal and 334 tonnes of timber. Saturday's consignment was 5 wagons of wheat, 3 of fertiliser and 2 of timber.
Every wagon takes the same road. Balajary is Baku's marshalling yard; Boyuk Kasik is the rail crossing into Georgia; from there Georgian Railway carries the train to the Armenian border, because Azerbaijan and Armenia have no rail link in service between them. The link that would change that, the Trump route through Syunik, comes before Armenia's Constitutional Court on 15 September.
Three days, about 1,000 tonnes, in the agency's rounded figures.
APA is the single channel for the running count, and it posts a dispatch for each train. The customs series runs on its own perimeter: Haqqin's reading of customs data on 30 July put diesel at about 12,000 tonnes by June. We keep them apart.
Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed in Bishkek on 31 August to «further practical steps» on the route and on delimitation. The trains are the practical step already running, and they run through a third country.