Gagik Grigoryan, head of foreign relations at the Ministry of Transport and Communication

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Murad Aleksanyan, head of Gyumri station, Armenia

Vladimir Melkumyan, 63, a passenger from Metsamor, Armenia, prefers trains as it is more comfortable

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Ashot Melikyan, head of railway services, industrial-technical department of the ‘South Caucasian Railway’ company

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Waiting for the train: People waiting for the train at Armavir station, Armavir region, Armenia

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Water brought by train: An old man collects water brought by railway from Gyumri as the village near the Araks station has no drinking water.

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway timetable: Providing better, faster and safer railway services and connecting land-locked Armenia to its neighbours was the aim of the Rehabilitation of Railway between Tbilisi and Yerevan project funded under the EU’s TRACECA Programme (Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia).

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway station in Armavir: Many people and especially students prefer the Armavir-Yerevan electric train to get to Yerevan in 40 minutes and more comfortably than in buses and marshrutkas (fixed-run taxis).

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway station in Gyumri: According to Murad Aleksanyan, head of Gyumri station, the Yerevan-Gyumri 154km railway takes 4.5 hours, when a marshrutka takes 1.5 hours, therefore people prefer the latter. But in case of high speed, the train will gain advantage over marshrutkas, as they will be more comfortable and one can carry more.

USSR railway map: The USSR's railway map at the railway station in Vanadzor, Armenia, a tribute to a by-gone era.

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Platforms at Vanadzor railway station: The railway lines in Armenia are in desperate need of improvements and modernisation.

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway line crossing the Khachakap village road: Studies were undertaken by the TRACECA project and it was found that €640-800 million were necessary for the modernization of the railway lines.

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Akhtala railway station at the beginning of the 20th century: The Tbilisi-Yerevan railway line was inaugurated in 1899.

Photo: archives (ENPI Info Centre)

End of the road: According to Uffe Holst Jensen, Head of ENP and Operations Section at the EU Delegation in Yerevan, transport infrastructure is important as it will better connect Armenia to the neighbouring countries. His view is that it links to the opening of borders, facilitating the EU aim to promote regional development and cross-border cooperation.

Railway tunnel in Lori region: The Rehabilitation of Railway between Tbilisi and Yerevan project assessed the possibility of rehabilitating the Yerevan-Tbilisi railway as well as the alternative railway link between Yerevan and Tbilisi via Azerbaijan so they meet international safety standards.

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Part of the reconstructed railway in Lori region: Under the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy, negotiations for comprehensive trade agreement will be launched and the EU is offering Armenia the possibility to export many goods free of costume duties, thus improving transport infrastructure could be a good environment for that.

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway line in decline: The 1990s saw a gradual lack of maintenance and technical improvements, leading to a rapid decline of the Armenian railway lines, like this one.

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway station in Araks

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway station in Akhtala

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway station in Qober

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Alaverdi railway station    Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway station in Vanadzor

Photo: Aghavni Harutyunyan (ENPI Info Centre)

Railway station in Yerevan

(Photo: EU Delegation in Armenia)

An old train at the railway station in Yerevan

(Photo: EU Delegation in Armenia)

View from the railway station in Yerevan

(Photo: EU Delegation in Armenia)

Map of the South-Caucasus railway system at Yerevan railway station

(Photo: EU Delegation in Armenia)