SOUTH-CAUCASIAN RAILWAYS LAUNCHES RAPID CONTAINER TRAINS RUNNING BETWEEN ARMENIA AND GEORGIA

ARKA
Dec 3, 2008

YEREVAN, December 3. /ARKA/. South-Caucasian Railways has launched
rapid container trains running between Armenia and Georgia, Alexander
Kuznetsov, director general of South-Caucasian Railways CJSC, said
on Tuesday.

He said that the company is planning to transit the whole shipment
into container transportation.

Kuznetsov said that South-Caucasian Railways has already launched
rapid container trains running between Yerevan and Georgian ports of
Poti and Batumi.

He said that shipment is carried out on condition of parity between
Armenia and Georgia.

"We have no objective to compete with road haulage, but we received
and sent two thousand railway container shipping operations in November
alone", Kuznetsov said.

He thinks this result can be doubled under good management.

The director general said that the company is now preparing necessary
facilities and modernizing equipment for shipping containers.

South Caucasus Railroad fully owned by the Russian Railways is the
operator of the Armenian Railways under a 30-year concession agreement
signed on February 13, 2008.

The Armenian Railways Company is in charge of 805 km of Armenia’s
1,125-km-long railways. Since 2001, the company has been operating at
a profit. 3mln tons of cargoes were transported through the Armenian
Railways in 2007 against 2.7mln tons in 2006.