SOUTH CAUCASUS RAILWAY IS SWITCHING TO ‘SUMMER TIME’

ArmInfo
2010-04-29 18:54:00

ArmInfo. South Caucasus Railway is switching to summer regime of
passenger operations – for the first time in Armenia, Director General
of SCR Shevket Shaydullin said during a press-conference today.

He said that by May the company will approve traffic schedule for
2010-2011. The speed of the trains will be raised, more locomotives
will be put into service. Some 2.1bln AMD will be spent on this
activity. 8 cars worth 700mln AMD will be imported from Voronezh
(Russia) for "Armenia" de luxe passenger train travelling from Yerevan
to Batumi in the summer. 5 electric locomotives will be brought from
Tbilisi. Presently, the company is repairing Yerevan Railway Station.

Almost 100mln AMD has been allocated for this purpose.

This year, unlike 2009, "Armenia" will travel on a daily basis. "In
order to make the trip more comfortable, we have decided that the
train will depart from Yerevan at 02:10 PM rather than in the evening.

In such case, it will reach the Armenian-Georgian border at 08:30 PM
and the passengers will no longer have to go through customs procedures
late at night. The arrival time will move to early morning which is
also better for the passengers," Shaydullin said.

He added that the passengers will also be offered a variant for
choice – twice a week an ordinary train will leave Yerevan late in
the evening and arrive in Batoumi by 5 pm. "The difference will be in
tariffs, and passengers will have an opportunity to make a choice",-
said Shaydullin. The travel cost in a sleeping-car of Armenia express
will be 22.4 thsd AMD, in a compartment – 10,6 thsd AMD, in a couchette
car – 6,4 thsd. For an ordinary passenger train tickets will cost 18,8
thsd AMD, 10,8 thsd AMD and 6,3 thsd AMD. The childrens’ tickets will
cost 60% of the ordinary ticket. Shaydullin added that in accordance
with the trends of passenger flow, seasonal indices for the ticket
value have been introduced. In July and August ticket prices will grow,
but in September the prices will return to their previous level.