Georgia Railways – Wikipedia

The Railways of Georgia (In Russian: грузинская железная дорос) are the railways, once belonging to the USSR state network, which fall in the territory of the ex-Soviet Republic of Georgia.

The birth of the first railway in Georgia dates back to the time of the Tsar, in 1865. In 1871 it was possible to travel between Poti and Kvirila (today Zestaponi). On 10 October 1872 the first passenger train connected poti to the city of Tbilisi.

The network continued to expand from this first central railway axis: Rioni was connected to Kutaisi in 1877, to Tkibuoli in 1887, Zestaponi with a chiature in 1895. In 1883 the Tbilisi-Baku connection became operational for the transport of the Ozerbaijan oil to the port of Batami. Finally, in 1899 the connection between Georgia and Armenia had become operational. Due to the difficult orography of Georgia, railway engineers have often had to compare problems difficult to solve; In 1890 the Tsipa double rod tunnel was built, which made a shorter transit possible between the east and west. From Khashuri to Borjomi, the railway exercise began in 1894, with the next route Borjomi-Bakuriani connected the high altitude areas and the ski fields, with a reduced operational gauge starting from 1902. The Kakheti trunk entered operation in 1915. ^[first]

The second moment of development of the railways in Georgia coincided with the need for rapid industrialization and in order to accelerate the distribution of agricultural products such as tea, lemons and wine. Of this phase are the Natanebi-Ozurgeti railway (1924); The Brotseula-Tskaltubo (1934), Senaki-Ingiri-Gali (1930), Gali-Schamchire-Sakhumi (1938) and Gori -Skinvali (1940). The construction of the Sokhumi-Adler section for connection to the Russian network began during the Second World War, and became operational in 1949. In 1932 the first Soviet electric traction train crossed the surami pass. The first 8 electric locomotives, class S , were provided by the General Electric Company followed by an additional 21, class Ss , built in Russia by the Kolomna and Dinamo factories between 1932 and 1934. Since November 1967 all the Georgian railways were electrified including Borjomi-Bakuriani with reduced gauge.

From 1946 onwards Soviet military engineers proceeded to the automatization and installation of automatic blocking systems. By 1949, radio communication systems had also been installed on the trains.

The new Marabda-Akhakalaki railway section was opened on December 31, 1986. ^[2]

Starting from the dissolution of the Ossr, the Georgian government has taken control of the country’s vital institutions, starting an aggressive privatization policy. The structure of the Georgia railways was 100% placed under the control of the company Railways of Georgia LLC which operates under the supervision of the business surveillance agency, section of the Ministry of Economic Development. In order to reach the privatization of the railways, the government in January 2007 constituted a mixed public/private partnership with the British private company Parkfield. ^[first]

The Georgian railways represent a vital connection between Black Sea and Caspian Sea, and the shortest route between Europe and Central Asia. Built in the Russian Largo Russian gauge and the main railway line of the Georgian railways reaches 1323.9 km in length, with 1422 bridges, 32 tunnels, with 22 passenger stations and 114 goods.

In 2003 the network was made up of:

The gr Flotta consists of 218 electric locomotives (4E1, 4e10 series, VL10, VL11, VL22), 175 diesel locomotives (series Te3, 2te10, TEM2) all of Soviet manufacture, various electromotors of the SR3, ER2, ER2M and those of classes New construction for the Georgian railways eg.
The Georgia railways serve the two important ports of batthe and pots.
The lines from Nikozi to Tskhinvali (5 km) and from OChamchira to the Inguri river are abandoned. ^[first]