Minister: In response to its employees` demand the South Caucasus  Railway expressed readiness to increase salaries by 10%

ArmInfo."Our partners in the South Caucasus Railway (SCR) have expressed their readiness to increase the salaries of their employees by 10%," Minister of  Territorial Administration and Development of Armenia Suren Papikyan  said on October 23 during a government hour in parliament.

Earlier it was reported that the drivers of the South Caucasus  Railway CJSC organized a strike in Gyumri.  Electric trains do not  go. Employees demand a salary increase of 30%. It should be noted  that this is not the first strike of railway workers. In November  2018, the employees of the Gyumri locomotive depot achieved their  allowances.

According to Papikyan, the question of raising the salary was raised  by railway workers not only in Gyumri, but also in Alaverdi. As the  minister pointed out, the issue is very sensitive and the parties  must come to a compromise.

The Minister also said that on November 6 he will meet in Moscow with  Oleg Belozerov, General Director and Chairman of the Board of Russian  Railways. As expected, during the meeting, in particular, the  upcoming investments of the company in Armenia will be discussed in  the context of the next 4-5 years.

It should be noted that recently in a number of Russian media an  information was spread that Russian Railways was allegedly preparing  to break the agreement with the Armenian authorities. Earlier, RTVI  TV channel, citing a source, said that Russian Railways was preparing  to break off the agreement with the Armenian authorities, claiming  that they were blocking the work of its subsidiary South Caucasus  Railway (SCR), which operates the railways in Armenia.

Later, the press service of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian  Federation told TASS that the Russian side is considering all options  for developing the situation with the RA Railways, up to the early  termination of the Russian Railways contract with the Armenian side.

Relations between Russian Railways and the Armenian authorities  escalated due to criminal cases against SCR. In particular, in August  2018, a search was conducted at the SCR office in Armenia on  suspicion of tax evasion. Later, the Investigative Committee of  Armenia reported on a criminal case against the former deputy  minister of transport, who hid the abuses revealed during the SCR  inspections. In addition, in 2018, the Investigative Committee began  testing the company for 10 years, checking the effectiveness of  investments of $ 226.8 million. The management of the South Caucasus  Railway considers financial claims unfounded. They emphasize that  ''for 10 years of SCR operation, the total time of inspections of tax  authorities in the company was 3 years''.

Nevertheless, on October 9, in a conversation with reporters,  Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan stated that the issue  of early termination of the agreement on the management of the  Armenian railway by "Russian Railways" is not on the agenda. The  representative of the Armenian government completely ruled out any  political motive in connection with the investigations carried out in  the RA regarding the company. "I exclude that the process is being  managed with the aim of resolving a number of issues regarding  relations between Yerevan and Moscow," he emphasized. According to  him, the current agreement provides for investments until 2038, but  there is a mutual desire to specify the investment program. Mher  Grigoryan agreed with the statement that the property of Russian  Railways in Armenia is mainly the legacy of the Soviet era and there  is a need to modernize the rolling stock of CJSC South Caucasus  Railways (a 100% subsidiary of Russian Railways) and its  infrastructures.  South Caucasus Railway CJSC is a 100% subsidiary of  Russian Railways OJSC and carries out concession management of  Armenian railways in accordance with the agreement signed on February  13, 2008. The concession management period is 30 years with the right  to extend for another 10 years.