ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan during the meeting on May 20 with the Vice-President of Russian Railways Alexander Misharin and General Director of South Caucasian Railways Sergey Valko discussed SCR activities, the results of 2016 work and upcoming programs. The Russian Ambassador Ivan Volynkin also attended the meeting.
As the press service of the government told ArmInfo, Misharin noted that all obligations taken under the agreement on trust management, including those related to investment programs will be implemented. At the same time, he added that the increase in passenger transportation was registered by 4%, and another 3% - the volume of cargo transportation. It was noted that a new program for the
development of SCR is being developed, which is expected to provide transport and logistics services, implementation of investment projects to improve infrastructure, develop multimodal transportation, form a terminal for cargo transportation in Armenia, and more.
Karapetyan stressed the importance of implementing the above-mentioned programs. According to him, the Armenian government is interested in the development of the SCR. At the same time, he stated that modernization of the infrastructure will not only help to increase the volume of cargo transportation, but will also increase the volume of passenger traffic, taking into account the increase in tourist traffic.
South Caucasus Railways is a wholly owned subsidiary of Russian Railways and conducts concession management of Armenian railways. The railway infrastructure of Armenia was transferred to the concession management of SCR, according to the Concession Agreement signed on February 13, 2008. The term of the concession management is 30 years with the right of prolongation for another 10 years.