Sergey Valko: The year 2016 was rather complicated for Armenian  railways 

ArmInfo.The year 2016 was rather complicated for Armenian railways. The South Caucasus Railway (SCR) had to function under crisis conditions and amid a tough competitive fight, SCR CEO Sergey Valko said at today's meeting when summing up the results of the company's activities for 2016. 

The SCR press office quotes Valko as saying that despite the  complicated work the level of revenues was ensured at 100.7% due to  the increase in traffic and improvement of cooperation with the  customers. "All investment projects were completely implemented in  2016," he said.    

He noted that the year 2016 saw significant events in the railway  area, particularly, the first multimodal transportation from Europe  to Iran by means of the railway infrastructure of Armenia and the  repair of an electric train at the Yerevan locomotive depot. Valko  instructed the relevant departments to continue the efforts towards  development multimodal transportation from Europe to Iran and vice  versa, as well as introduction of advanced technologies of repair.   

Valko pointed out that SCR demonstrated positive traffic dynamics in  2016 - 1% higher than targeted and 2.3% higher than the previous  year's indicator. Export traffic exceeded the previous year's  indicator by 9% or by 28.8 thsd tons, while local traffic increased  by 15.9%. Import traffic dropped by 18.5%. 

Such qualitative indices as the average daily mileage and the  locomotive productivity also grew. The service speed reached 35.1  km/h versus the targeted 34 km/h. 

In 2016, the wagon turnaround made up 2.7 days versus the targeted  2.9 days. At the same time, Sergey Valko stressed the need to improve  such indicators as the average weight of a car, standby load of a  car, consumption of electric power for hauling operations.    

As regards the schedule, he noted that over the period under review  as many as 13 048 trains ran, 12 919 of which met the schedule. Valko  paid special attention to railway safety issues. He said that in 2016  the railway appraisal rose by 7 points as compared to 2016.  He noted  that over 39.4 thsd railway sleepers were replaced over the period  under review, and 12.7km of track facilities were overhauled. 

Valko noted that in 2016 the passenger turnover grew by 12.1% - by  24.5% in international traffic and by 0.4% in the local one. 

At the end of the meeting Valko awarded diplomas and certificates of  gratitude to many railroaders. He congratulated the railroaders and  wished them optimism, fruitful activities and successful settlement  of the tasks.    

SCR CJSC is the 100% subsidiary of Russian Railways OJSC and the  concessional manager of Armenian Railways under the 13 Feb 2008  agreement, which was signed for 30 years but can be extended for 10  more years.