Rehabilitation of the Railway between Tbilisi and Yerevan
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 was 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 was 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 Hrazdan-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.
