Armenia - General Information
Country Name
Armenia (Hayastan; Հայաստան)
National railway system
Armenian Railways (HYU): (Հարավկովկասյան Երկաթուղի) was formerly the operator. Since 1 June 2008, the former Armenian Railways have been run by South Caucasus Railways (SCR), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian Railways.
Official Website
Language
Armenian is the only official language although Russian is widely used, especially in education
Currency
Dram (Դրամ); code: AMD = 100 luma (լումա)
UIC code
Numeric 58; alpha ARM
Timetable
Journey Planner
None
Downloadable Timetable
A basic timetable is available by line; click on the tab at the top to get the required line.
A good privately compiled timetable is available.
Printed Timetable
None.
Engineering Information
None.
Maps
Printed Maps
- European Railway Atlas (All-Europe Edition) by M.G. Ball.
- World Rail Atlas - The Middle East and Caucasus by Neil Robinson.
Web-based Maps
- Thorsten Büker's June 2009 Map of Armenia only available via wayback machine
Gauge
"Russian" gauge (1520mm)
Electrification
3000 V dc
Rule of the road
Right.
Other railways
None.
Tourist lines
None but Yerevan has a (former) “Pioneer” public narrow-gauge railway that combined a hobby activity for teenagers with practical training in railway operation. These 'Dyetsky Zelegny Dorogy' (DZD) typically operate on a few km of track in a public park on weekends between 1 May and the start of the new school year. For details, see the Web site (partly in English) railways.id.ru/towns/towns.html. .
Metro
Yerevan
Operated by Karen Demirchyan Yerevan Subway CJSC UTSRN - Site in Armenian.
There is track plan of the Yerevan Metro from 2012, captioned in Cyrillic text.
Trams/LRT-Systems
None; the 1524 mm gauge Yerevan tram system closed in 2004
Recent and future changes
In September 2023 a trial local passenger service of one train a day each way was restarted between Gyumri and Vanadzor, on the line towards Tbilisi (Georgia). Services to Georgia are thought to have been discontinued in about 2011.
The conquest of the Armenian exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh (within Azerbaijan) by Azerbaijani forces in September 2023, and the resulting exodus of almost all the Armenian population, presumably means that the railway linking it to Armenia will not reopen in the foreseeable future.
All lines crossing into Azerbaijan (including the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan and the Armenian exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh) have been out of use since the conflict between the two countries in the early 1990s. The reopening of these lines was one of the conditions of the ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia in late 2020. In January 2022, Armenia and Azerbaijan were reported to have reached ‘a mutual understanding at the highest level’ on this, but this was nullified by the Azerbaijani victory in September 2023.
Special Notes
None.
