Russia aspires to create S Caucasus railway network

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 11 2004

Russia, jointly with the three South Caucasus countries – Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia, intends to establish an operator company to
renovate and service the Caucasus railway, Russian transport minister
Igor Levitin told journalists last Wednesday.

He said the decision came as a result of the talks with the governments
of the three regional countries. “The three countries’ Presidents
confirmed their support for transport agencies to propose a scheme
for setting up an operator company.”

Levitin said, however, that it was quite difficult to make a political
decision on the matter at this point. The Russian minister noted that
the consent of the Cacuasus states’ leaders was largely stipulated
by the tremendous geo-political importance of the project. He also
mentioned that the volume of cargo transit through the Caucasus railway
in the Soviet Union era constituted up to 15 million tons a year.