According to the Center for Economic Reforms Analysis and Communication of Azerbaijan, the opening of the railway line Kars-Gyumri-Yerevan-Nakhichevan-Meghri-Baku will cost about 434 million dollars. With a turnover of 10 million tons per year, the road will be able to make a profit in the 13th year after being activated.
The President of the Georgian Professional Railway Club, Davit Gochava, stated it based on the Azerbaijani media. The Railway Expert provides a diagram showing the routes of rail traffic after lifting the blockade for communications in the South Caucasus. The current railway lines are marked in black, inactive - in red, subject to restoration. These districts are Gyumri (Armenia) - Turkish border, Yeraskh (Armenia) - Sharur (Azerbaijan), Ijevan (Armenia) - Kazakh (Azerbaijan), a district from the western part of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, through the Meghri district (Armenia), and Horadiz.
According to Davit Gochava, most of the red-marked areas are either destroyed or left without attention. To fully restore the railway traffic in the region, it is necessary to carry out repair-construction works and put the rails in separate areas.
After 30 years of inactivity, Iran built the Khoda Afarin Dam on the Araks River, on the border between Iran and Azerbaijan, which was followed by the flooding of a 15-kilometer-long railway line. This has seriously changed the terrain at this location. In order to restore rail traffic here, it is necessary to build a corridor in the rock, which will be extremely expensive, even though the length of this problematic area will be just 8-9 kilometers.
As for the Ijevan-Kazakh district, Davit Gochava said that its opening would connect Armenia to the Russian railway network via Azerbaijan. The traffic through Nakhchivan will connect the enclave with the main part of Azerbaijan and, on the other hand, provide another connection of Azerbaijan with Iran and the railway connection of Armenia with Iran, and the shortest road from Yerevan to the Meghri region.
As for the Gyumri line, Gochava argues that the opening of a railway line connecting Gyumri to the Turkish border will provide not only traffic between Armenia and Turkey but also between Azerbaijan and Turkey via Armenia, as well as connect the Transcaucasian countries with the Russian-Turkish railway network. Moreover, in the case of complete restoration of the railway networks in Armenia and Azerbaijan, it can be integrated into the "North-South" corridor (Europe - Russia - Iran - India).
"Predicting the developments in the Caucasus at the moment is quite difficult; despite the ceasefire, there is still a great deal of mistrust between the parties," Davit Gochava noted.
Bela Gelashvili
News Author