Monday, June 8 2015 07:28

 Iran-Armenia railway project is completely inefficient, says Vladimir Yakunin, the President of the Russian Railways OJSC in response to ArmInfo's question as to whether it is reasonable to build the railway. Yakunin is sure the project is absolutely unpromising: "it is like opening a window to nowhere, to the wall of the neighboring building." 

A meeting of journalists from the post-Soviet countries and President of the Russian Railways OJSC Vladimir Yakunin was organized on sidelines of the Tenth International Railway Business Forum "Strategic Partnership 1520" in Sochi, last week. Among others, the Forum addressed such issues as the long-term projects to expand Russia's transport opportunities through modernization of the Baikal- Amur Mainline (BAM) and the Trans-Siberian Railway, construction of a high speed line Moscow-Kazan that may become part of the Moscow-Beijing transport corridor, and the North-South motorway running along the left shore of the Caspian Sea to Iran. 

Yakunin said the 100% subsidiary of the Russian Railways in Armenia - the South Caucasus Railway - operates in special conditions - it has not long railway bed - and quite efficiently, without loss.  "Under the concession agreement, we pledged to invest nearly $200 million in the development of the railway and we are fulfilling our commitments. We have already restored three bridges and almost all the related facilities, and reconstructed nearly 340km railways. As the head of that business unit, I have a task to ensure the return of the investments we have made in it at the order of the Russian Government. It is not an easy task.  Therefore we exert genuine efforts to settle the transport problems with Turkey. We tried to hint at how to build the transport relations with Azerbaijan, because on both ends there are Russians," Yakunin said.  We have not succeeded in it yet. Nevertheless, he said, the work to establish a direct railway communication via Abkhazia is continued.  "We look to achieve an economic project, not a political one," Yakunin said.