REHABILITATION OF THE RAILWAY BETWEEN TBILISI AND YEREVAN

armradio.am
18.11.2009 17:38

The European Union financed an important project aiming at assessing
the possibility of rehabilitating the railway line between Tbilisi
and Yerevan in the frame of TRACECA Programme (Transport Corridor
Europe Caucasus Asia).

The main objective of the project "Rehabilitation of the Railway
between Tbilisi and Yerevan" was to prepare a detailed assessment about
the perspectives of refurbishing the Tbilisi-Yerevan railway line (as
well as the alternative railway link between Yerevan and Tbilisi via
Azerbaijan) in line with international standards of safety applicable
to the transportation of passengers and goods.

The results of the possible rehabilitation would include connecting
Armenia to the Batumi/Poti – Tbilisi TRACECA rail transport route and
the reduction of journey times for passenger transport, currently
excessive because of speed restrictions due to insufficient
track quality. The rehabilitation would dramatically raise the
competitiveness of the railway line.

The main Tbilisi – Yerevan railway link, which has been inaugurated
in 1899 and electrified in 1967 suffers from a severe backlog of
maintenance and modernisation, and thereby cannot cover actual and
future transport needs in an effective and competitive way. The
alternative Yerevan- Tbilisi railway link via Azerbaijan has been
inaugurated and electrified in 1984. Nevertheless, only the section
Yerevan – Dilijan is in operation since several years.

After 12 months of activity, the project has finalized three main
studies:

1. -The feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the railway line
between Tbilisi and Yerevan.

2. -The feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the Hrazvan-Ijevan
section of the line toward Azerbaijan, where a severe landslide has
blocked the traffic.

3. -The feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the technology
of the main Georgian railway.

The project has also made a preliminary assessment on the possibility
of opening a new link between Vanadzor and Fioletovo, shortening the
current route between Yerevan and Tbilisi by at around 100 km.