South Caucasus Railway (, ) is the sole

railway company A rail transport company is a company active within the rail industry. It can be: * a manufacturing company, * a rail transport operations, railway undertaking providing services through operating rolling stock, * a railway infrastructure manager ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, owned by

Russian Railways Russian Railways or RZD () is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both managing infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services and has a near-monopoly on long-distance train travel in Russia. ...

, responsible for all

inter-city Inter-city rail services are Express train, express trains that run services that connect cities over longer distances than Commuter rail, commuter or Regional rail, regional trains. They include rail services that are neither short-distance co ...

commuter Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

, and

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

rail transport in Armenia. The network consists of 780 kilometers (480 mi) of track with all lines in the

Russian gauge Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Main information

On 13 February 2008, the

Government of Armenia The Government of the Republic of Armenia () or the executive branch of the Armenian government is an executive council of government ministers in Armenia. It is one of the three main governmental branches of Armenia and is headed by the Pr ...

signed an agreement to transfer 100% of the state-owned Armenian Railways to

. According to the agreement, the concession period is 30 years, with a possible extension for another 10 years by mutual agreement of the parties. In accordance with the terms of the tender, existing railway employees (4,300 people), except those of retirement age, were transferred to the staff of South Caucasus Railway on salary increases of up to 20%.

Routes

South Caucasus Railway currently operates the following services: 1. Armenia–Georgia express/sleeper service:

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...

via

Gyumri Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...

and

Vanadzor Vanadzor (, ) is an urban municipal community and the third largest city in Armenia, serving as the capital of Lori Province in the northern part of the country. It is located about north of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 census, the city h ...

2. Yerevan to

Araks The Aras is a transboundary river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, between Iran and both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, fin ...

(Myasnikan) /

- 3 services a day plus 1 additional short journey to Araks, and a weekend express service (without stops between Yerevan and Gyumri). An onward branch from Gyumri to

Artik Artik () is a town in the Artik Municipality of the Shirak Province of Armenia. As of the 2011 census, the town had a population of 19,534. As per the 2016 official estimate, the population of Artik was around 18,800. As of the 2022 census, the t ...

Pemzashen Pemzashen () is a village in the Artik Municipality of the Shirak Province of Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is ...

and

Maralik Maralik () is a town in the Ani Municipality of the Shirak Province at the northwest of Armenia. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town is 5,398, down from 5,782 reported in the 2001 census. The 2016 official estimate, the population o ...

has not run a passenger service since 2013, whilst a freight only line also branches from Armavir he station prior to Araksto the

Metsamor Metsamor (, ), is a town and urban municipal community in the Armavir Province of Armenia. It is famous for being home to Armenia's Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, the only nuclear plant in the Transcaucasian region. As of the 2011 census, the t ...

power plant. 3. Yerevan to Ararat &

Yeraskh Yeraskh () is a village in the Ararat Municipality of the Ararat Province of Armenia. Yeraskh is the closest Armenian village to the closed border with Azerbaijan. The settlement is adjacent to Heydarabad, Azerbaijan across the border, is bes ...

- 1 service a day 4. Summer-only service from Yerevan to

Hrazdan Hrazdan ( ) is a town and urban municipal community in Armenia serving as the administrative centre of Kotayk Province, located northeast of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town is 44,231. During the Soviet Uni ...

, Sevan and Shorzha (a branch from Hrazdan to

Dilijan Dilijan () is a spa town and urban municipal community in the Dilijan Municipality of the Tavush Province of Armenia. The town is one of the most important resorts in Armenia, situated within the Dilijan National Park. The forested town is home t ...

via the 8km-long

Meghradzor Meghradzor (), meaning, ''valley of honey''; formerly known as ''Taycharukh''), is a village in the Kotayk Province of Armenia, northwest of Hrazdan. The village is located to the south of the Tsaghkunyats mountain range, along the left bank of ...

Fioletovo Fioletovo () is a village in the Lori Province of Armenia. Toponymy The village was known as ''Nikitino'' until 1936, when it was renamed ''Fioletovo'' in honour of the Russian Communist activist and one of the 26 Baku Commissars Ivan Fioleto ...

tunnel has not been used since 2012 nd onward to Ijevan since 1992">Ijevan.html" ;"title="nd onward to Ijevan">nd onward to [ Sotk mine just beyond Vardenis">jevan since 1992 The latter route is used year round by freight trains, running beyond Shorzha to transport gold ore from Zod gold mine">Sotk mine just beyond Vardenis back via the Yerevan western bypass freight railway line to the refinery in Ararat (as well as by trains serving the Hrazdan Cement plant located 5km up the Dilijan branch). A link also exists to the Yerevan Metro at Charbakh Depot via the Karmir Blur siding.

Rolling stock

Passenger trips are served by two types of trains: Soviet ER2 and modern EP2D trains. The Soviet ER2 trains consist of 3-4 cars, and run on Yerevan - Araks, Yerevan - Gyumri (evening departure from Yerevan, morning from Gyumri), and Almast - Shorzha routes. EP2D trains consist of 2 cars, and run on the Yerevan - Yeraskh, Yerevan - Gyumri (morning and afternoon from Yerevan, noon and evening from Gyumri), and the Yerevan - Gyumri weekend express routes.

International links

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

– closed – same gauge *

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

– open – same gauge *

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

– via Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan enclave – closed –

break of gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and railroad car, rolling stock g ...

– / *

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

– Akhuryan/ Doğukapı, closed since 1993 –

-/ Except for the one with Georgia, all international railway links between Armenia and its neighbors have been closed since 1993. In the ceasefire agreement that ended the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding occupied territories. It was a major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involvi ...

, Armenia and Azerbaijan committed to "unblocking communications" between the two countries. Since then, the two countries have begun work on restoring the southern railway link, which will go from Yeraskh into Nakhchivan and then cross back into Armenia through Meghri and enter mainland Azerbaijan, connecting to Azerbaijan's main line to Baku via

Horadiz Horadiz is a city and municipality in the Fuzuli District of Azerbaijan, located on the left bank of the Aras river. As of 2019, it had a population of 7,600 people. History During the Russian Empire, the village of Horadiz was part of the Jeb ...

. In January 2022, Armenian deputy prime minister Mher Grigoryan stated that the Armenian section of the railway would cost about $200 million and take three years to complete. Normalization talks between Armenia and Turkey since 2022 have also raised hopes that the railway link between the two countries via Gyumri and Kars could be restored, although no agreement has been reached.

References

External links