Armenia starts reconstruction of railway connection with Azerbaijan
The Armenian government is working on restoring the Yeraskh-Julfa-Meghri-Horadiz railway. A dedicated committee of ten people has been formed to help organise the project.
The agreement to begin work came after the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Sochi and Brussels at the end of 2021.
The Azerbaijani side, began building work in February 2021, a few months before these agreements were signed. According to reports, the Azerbaijani government plans to finish its section of the railway in the first quarter of 2023.
It is unclear when work on restoring the once-functioning railway will begin. The Armenian side stressed that it would operate in compliance with international customs and border norms, and that parts of the railway on each country's territory will be under its sovereign jurisdiction.
This railway line will not only connect Armenia and Azerbaijan once it is repaired. Armenia will also have rail links to Russia and Iran and Azerbaijan will be linked to Nakhchivan.
"The 45-kilometer railway on the Meghri stretch would cost over $200 million and take around three years to build," Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan stated last December.
Earlier, on January 17, a working group was established by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to handle the restoration of railway tracks from Yeraskh (Armenian province of Ararat) to the border with the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, as well as across the Meghri sub-region of the southern Armenian province of Syunik. The decision to that effect was made public on the Armenian government's website.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reaffirmed their earlier agreement to restore the railway that used to run from Armenian Yeraskh to Julfa and Ordubad in Nakhchivan, and from there to Armenian Meghri, during a meeting in Brussels on December 14 convened by European Council President Charles Michel. When fully rebuilt, the railroad will go all the way to Horadiz, Azerbaijan.