Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway
The Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway line is a railway line that runs from the city of Kars in Turkey to the Armenian city of Gyumri, and from there on to Tbilisi, Georgia.
Originally completed in 1899, the railway was highly important during the Soviet era, both as the only direct rail link between Turkey and the
Because the Kars–Gyumri section has been inoperative due to the closed Turkish-Armenian border, an agreement was signed in April 2005 to build a direct connection across the Turkish-Georgian border from Kars to
History
Construction
The railway was built in the late 19th century, when Georgia and Armenia, as well as the recently conquered
An on-site study of the future railway route from Tiflis to Alexandropol (now Gyumri) to Kars was initiated in the spring of 1894 by the Imperial Ministry of Communications and the management of the
In 1899, work also started on a branch line from Alexandropol south to Yerevan. That was completed in 1902, and later extended to Julfa on the Iranian border.[5]
Operation
During
During the
Until a crane for changing railcar
In 1986, the construction of a 160-kilometer branch line from
Closing of the Kars-Gyumri section
The last freight train crossed the Turkish-Armenian border on 6 July 1993, a few days before the border was closed by Turkey. The two governments agreed to exchange empty railcars (there were some empty Turkish cars left at the Armenian Akhuryan Station, and some Armenian ones at the Turkish Doğukapı), which was done on 11 July. Since then, no train has crossed the border.[6]
The Gyumri-Tbilisi section is part of the Yerevan-Tbilisi mainline, and is Armenia's only functioning rail connection to the outside world.[1] During the Soviet era, the Kars-Gyumri line was used by direct trains from Yerevan to Moscow and elsewhere in the USSR, but now trains from Armenia can only reach Georgia, because Georgia's rail connection with Russia has been severed due to the Abkhazian war, and Georgia's rail link to Azerbaijan is of little use to Armenians.
References
- ^ Jane's Information Group. Archived from the originalon 2012-08-26.
- ^ Fears of Turkey's 'invisible' Armenians, BBC News
- ^ "Caucasian Review of International Affairs (CRIA)". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
- ^ "EU Statement on opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway - EEAS - European External Action Service - European Commission".
- ^ a b c А.Э. Котов (A.E. Kotov), "Из истории Южно-Кавказской железной дороги" ("From the History of the South Caucasus Railway"), 17.07 2009. Includes a detailed map. (in Russian)
- ^ a b c d Рубен ГРДЗЕЛЯН (Ruben Grdzelyan), Тишина на границе ("Quiet on the border") (in Russian)
- ^ Noyan Soyak : « Nous voulons que les USA octroient un statut spécial à la zone frontalière»[permanent dead link] (in French)
- ^ Distances are from the map in Kotov (2009)
- ^ History of the Georgian Railways (in English), or History of the Georgian Railways (in Russian)