Kars-Akhalkalaki railway is not our competitor, General Director of the South Caucasus Railways (SCR) Shevket Shaydulin told the reporters today.

“Let the Armenian-Turkish border be open, let them construct what they want,” he said, adding that Kars-Akhuryan railway is much more profitable from the viewpoint of cargo transportation, as it is shorter and has higher traffic capacity. Thus, 6-8 carriages can go through Kars-Akhalkalaki railway, whereas Kars-Akhuryan’s capacity is up to 3,000 tons.

According to him, there are some Turkish investors interested in operation of Kars-Akhuryan railway and are ready to invest certain funds to develop logistic system.  However, Shaydulin is not aware of the activities carried out by the Turkish side at the moment. As to Akhuryan station, bordering with Turkey, its logistic center is almost ready to accept trains.   

“The shortest way from Europe to Asia lies through Armenia enabling it to become a transit country,” he concluded.

Baku-Tbilisi- Kars-Akhalkalaki railway construction project is an alternative to the existing but not operating Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki railway. On the whole the project’s objective is to force Armenia out of the regional communication projects.