YEREVAN. – If neighboring countries are building the railway, this does not mean that Armenia should not think about this topic. 

Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies, Vahan Martirosyan, told the aforesaid to reporters, after Thursday’s Cabinet session.

In his words, even if the neighboring country is building a railway from Iran, this does not mean that Armenia should not start and that such a project is not contemporary. As per the minister, this is one of the potential routes that can compete with the cargo transport roads that lead from the Persian Gulf and Iran to Europe, via the Black Sea.

“According to very rough estimates, the construction cost [of this railway] is estimated at 3 billion [US] dollars. (…). [But] the future investor shall give the final appraisal,” said Martirosyan. “The routes toward connecting the existing railway along the [Lake] Sevan shore, or Ararat Valley, [of Armenia] are being discussed. At this moment, the road passing along Sevan is preferable.”

The minister added that, according to rough estimates, this railway construction project shall make up for its construction cost in 22 years.