Specialist: Construction of a railway through the Meghri corridor  will lead Armenia to a state of complete transport isolation

ArmInfo. In the next 2 years, the volume of traffic by railroad communication Armenia - Russia will significantly decrease, and vice versa, the volume of  traffic by road will increase. Director of the large Armenian  transport and logistics company Apaven Gagik Aghajanyan said this in  an interview with ArmInfo correspondent, commenting on the appeal of  Abkhaz parliamentarians to their Russian colleagues regarding the  possible unblocking of the Abkhazian section of the railway and  establishing direct communication between Russia and Armenia through  the territory of Abkhazia.

Meanwhile, according to Aghajanyan, in a couple of years a new road  to the "Upper Lars" checkpoint will be built in Georgia. The road, 21  km long, will also include the construction of a 9-kilometer tunnel,  thanks to which traffic on this road will become year-round,  round-the-clock, and therefore uninterrupted.  Equipment for the  construction of a road in Georgia has already been delivered to the  construction site.  For Armenia, in this context, a much more  important task should be the completion of the construction of the  North-South highway, as well as the effective use of existing  communication opportunities. Thus, the volume of transportation by  rail will be significantly reduced, and by road, on the contrary,  will increase.  The reason for this is the higher tariffs for railway  transportation in Armenia itself, which are also significantly  influenced by expensive tariffs for energy resources.

The specialist emphasized that the proposal of the Abkhaz  parliamentarians is possibly related to concerns about the use of the  Meghri corridor and access to the railways of Azerbaijan, and from  there to Russia.  However, even in this situation, the specialist  continued, there is no need to talk about the country's great needs  for the railway, for this you can spend nothing at all, but for this  Armenia should take a much tougher position on the issue of resuming  transport routes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.  According to him,  it is not coincidently that the President of the neighboring country  Ilham Aliyev lowers the degree of his anti-Armenian statements when  it comes to this route. He needs an international treaty, which he  can use at any time, right up to the introduction of troops, even  when determining tariff rates for future rail transportation. Yerevan  should insist that these tariffs correspond to tariffs for other  directions of transportation. And there is no special need for the  construction of a new railway linking Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan by  transit through the territory of Armenia.

If the matter concerns unblocking communications for Nakhichevan,  then this can be done very quickly, without much effort and cost, and  most importantly - within a few weeks. To do this, there is no need  to make excessive efforts, build a new railway or even renovate it.  There is a railway from Turkey through the Armenian Akhuryan, and  then Gyumri, Yerevan and Yeraskh to Nakhichevan, and it is in working  condition. Its about 500-600 meters from Yeraskh to the border of  Nakhichevan. The next station is Nakhichevan - Sadarak. Today, from  Russia through Derbent by rail, you can get to Baku, from there  through the central parts of Azerbaijan to get to Armenia. This is a  two-way railway, and a large amount of cargo can be transported along  it at the same time. On the Armenian section, you just need to  restore 500- 600 meters of the railway. This way you can get to  Yerevan and from there to Nakhichevan. It will work properly,  providing a railway connection between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan. In  length, this is even less than the planned project.  At the same  time, according to the estimates of the Azerbaijani side, it will  take two years and $ 434 million to build a new railway line. This  road cannot be built for such a period and such an amount. An  illustrative example of this is the construction of the  Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway through the territory of Georgia. It  was necessary to build 130 km of the road there. Then they said that  they would build it in two years and for $ 400 million, but in  reality it was built in 11 years and about $ 1 billion was spent.   Meanwhile, transport links with Azerbaijan can be restored within a  few weeks.

Gagik Aghajanyan recalled that before the collapse of the USSR,  Armenia was a serious hub in terms of railway communication for the  countries of the region. With the exception of the railway line  between Georgia and Azerbaijan, all other routes passed through  Armenia. Regional countries communicated with each other exclusively  through the territory of Armenia. By rail, one could get from Georgia  to Turkey through Armenia, from Azerbaijan to Turkey - also through  the territory of Armenia. The same could be said about the  communication between Iran and Georgia. Even from Azerbaijan to Iran  by rail, it was possible to travel exclusively through the territory  of Armenia.  However, after the collapse of the USSR, the regional  map of railway communications changed a lot.  Azerbaijan has already  built a railway to enter Iran via Astara - Rasht. Baku has already  bypassed Armenia from the east. There is already a railway linking  Georgia with Turkey: Kars - Akhalkalaki. Thus, Georgia bypasses  Armenia from the west. Thus, there are railway communications  bypassing Armenia from the east, north and west. There is only one  road left - the southern one, during the construction of which  Armenia, being in the center of the region, will find itself in  transport isolation. As soon as a railway is built connecting the  southern regions of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan, and then with  Turkey, through the so-called Meghri corridor, Armenia will find  itself in complete transport isolation. "That is, with our help, they  will actually bypass Armenia," Aghajanyan said.  He also stated that  the Meghri section is 45 km of the road along which Azerbaijani  trains will transit to Nakhichevan. This is just a short transit  road, which the Armenian railway itself does not enter. That is, it  will not be connected with the Armenian railway system, but will only  connect Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan.

However, through Nakhichevan, Armenian cargo can reach Iran by rail  if it is unblocked, but for this there is no need to build a new road  through the south of Armenia. Armenia can restore railway  communication with Azerbaijan through Ijevan in a matter of weeks or  months, providing transport communication between Baku and  Nakhichevan, and Azerbaijan will unblock the railway between Armenia  and Iran through the same Nakhichevan. "This road already exists. Why  build another road from the south? The answer is obvious - to bypass  Armenia," the head of the company emphasized, recalling that Turkey  has already announced that it is ready to build a railway to  Nakhichevan from Sharur station (Nakhichevan) to Igdir and further to  Kars.  In this situation, Armenia will be forced to bow to its  neighbors every time to get a road in one direction or another. "At  the same time, we cannot offer them our roads in any way. They will  not need them. Armenia will unilaterally pay its neighbors for roads  through their territories. That is, the restart of the Meghri section  of the railway will lead to the fact that, being in the center of  Transcaucasia, Armenia finds itself in complete transport isolation.  I think that Yerevan can offer to use the existing railways. When  cargoes go through them and the traffic reaches such volumes that the  capacity of these roads will not be able to serve them, then we can  think about building an alternative road. Then there will be economic  expediency in the construction of a new canvas. If today there is no  economic expediency in its construction, then the question arises why  this should be done. There is only one explanation - this is a  political project, "Aghajanyan said.  He also reminded that the whole  world opens up to Armenia through the Georgian ports. Armenia is  connected with Georgian ports by a railway, which operates without  interruption. Armenia through the territory of Georgia along Upper  Lars carries out transportations with Russia. You just need to  effectively use the available opportunities.