South Caucasus Railway has increased traffic flow by 31.1% over year

ArmInfo. In August 2016  versus August 2015, the South Caucasus Railway (SCR) increased the  traffic flow by 31.1%, (up 5.1% versus the target indicator), CEO of  SCR CJSC Sergey Valko said at today's meeting. 

As the press office of the company reports, Sergey Valko said that in  August the railroad loading made up 132.5 thsd tons (up 13% as  compared to August 2015). The export traffic grew by 37% versus  August 2015, while the local traffic rose by 7.5% to 102.6 thsd tons. 

The source says that amid the growth of loading, export and local  traffic, in Jan-Aug 2016 the import traffic significantly dropped  (almost by 20%) as compared to Jan-Aug 2015.

A number of qualitative indicators such as the average daily run and  the locomotive efficiency have grown.  The service speed totaled 35.1  km/h versus the targeted 33.4 km/h, while the operating speed made up  41.4 km/h versus the targeted 40 km/h. 

In the meantime, Sergey Valko stressed the need to improve several  indicators such as average trainload, yard time of freights, power  consumption for hauling operations.  

As regards the train schedule, Valko said that as many as 1266 trains  operated over the period under review, with 1256 of them operated in  accordance with the schedule.   

The head of the company also spoke of railway safety issues, noting  that in August 2016 the railway appraisal has improved by 8 points to  85.  

He added that as many as 4440 sleepers were replaced over the period  under review. Since early 2016, over 27,000 sleepers have been  replaced versus the targeted 23,700 sleepers.  

Among the current priority tasks of the railway service, Valko  pointed out the need to enhance the safety, get prepared for the  wintertime operations, continue and improve the measures aimed at  increasing the cargo traffic, as well as to implement projects on  cost-effective use of resources. 

SCR CJSC is the 100% subsidiary of Russian Railways OJSC and the  concessional manager of Armenian Railways under the 13 Feb 2008  agreement, which was signed for 30 years but can be extended for 10  more years.