 | |
| Company type | State-owned enterprise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Rail transport |
| Predecessor | Georgian Railways |
| Founded | 1992; 33 years ago (1992) |
| Headquarters | Sukhumi railway station,, |
Area served | Abkhazia |
| Services | Passenger trains,Rail transport,Cargo |
| Owner | Russian Railways |
| Website | aihamya |
Abkhazian railway (Abkhaz:Аҧсны Аихамҩа;Russian:Абхазская железная дорога) is thestate-ownedrailway company of thepartially recognised state ofAbkhazia, and managing all infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services in Abkhazia. Under a monopoly agreement, it is fully managed and partially owned byRussian Railways.
In 2016, 307,748 people traveled between Abkhazia and Russia by rail.[1]
After thedissolution of the Soviet Union and damaging of theTranscaucasian Railway lines, the Samtredskoye part to the west of theEnguri River came under control of the Abkhazian railway. The bridge over theEnguri River was blown up on 14 August 1992, which was the day whenGeorgian forces entered Abkhazia and is the date considered as the start of theWar in Abkhazia. The pretext for sending the Georgian National Guard to Abkhazia in 1992 was to protect the railroad.[2] The bridge was subsequently restored but blown up again in 1993, after the end of the war. The track between Achigvara and theEnguri River was dismantled. The rest of the railway line also suffered greatly during the war. After the war ended, traffic was restored along the line. The railway system of Abkhazia was isolated in the 1990s, due to the blockade imposed by Russia.
On 25 December 2002, theSochi-Sukhumielektrichka train made its first run since the war, which led to Georgian protests.[3][4] Part of the line, 60 kilometers of track betweenZugdidi andOchamchire, had been removed and sold for scrap prior to reopening.[5] As the number of Russian tourists greatly increased in the 2000s, thePsou-Sukhumi section was mainly repaired by Russia in 2004 and on 10 September 2004 theMoscow-Sukhumi train operated byRussian Railways first arrived in the capital of Abkhazia. The Ochamchire-Sukhumi, Sochi-Sukhumi and Tkvarcheli-Sukhumielektrichkas, that had operated at various times from 1993, no longer operated by 2007 due to various infrastructure problems. The last of the elektrichka,Gudauta-Sukhumi, was closed down on the end of 2007.[6] The Sukhumi-Ochamchire section was restored in 2008 by RussianRailway Troops.[7]
On 15 May 2009, thePresident of Abkhazia,Sergei Bagapsh, announced, that Abkhazia's railway and airport would be transferred toRussia with management rights for ten years, a decision, which caused a negative outcry inAbkhazia. According to the Abkhaz tycoon and opposition party leader,Beslan Butba, this has led to growing anti-Russian sentiment inAbkhazia.[8] TheAdler-Gagra train service was resumed on 26 June 2010 by the Don-Prigorod company.[9]
The railway consists of a 221 km (137 mi), single-track rail line along theBlack Sea coast.[11] Built to1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)Russian gauge, it connectedRussia'sNorth Caucasus Railway withGeorgian Railways prior to 1992. This connection was severed as a result of theWar in Abkhazia.
Russian Railways restored a 130 km section of the railway in mid-2011 using a 2 billionruble loan from the Russian government.[12] Regular passenger services from Moscow and Sochi were also restored.[12]
The railway is administered by theAbkhazskaya Zheleznaya Doroga (Russian:Абхазская Железная Дорога,Abkhaz:Аҧсны Аиҳаамҩа) company. As of 2016, there is a daily long-distance train betweenMoscow andSukhumi, and some suburban trains betweenAdler andGagra.
Currently, there is only one train connection from the Russian Federation to Abkhazia. The train fromMoscow toSukhumi operates daily at the high touristic season in summer and twice a week at the low season. The additional trains fromBelgorod andSt. Petersburg operate during the summer months which is the main tourist season.[13]
There have been proposals to re-establish rail traffic between Russia and the Trans-Caucasian countries of Armenia and Georgia through Abkhazia. Abkhazia and Russia signed a protocol on repairing the Abkhazian stretch in October 1995,[14] but Georgia has long tied the restoration of rail traffic with the return of refugees to Abkhazia. Negotiations to restore the railway link between Georgia and Abkhazia were held in 2004-2005, but ultimately stalled.[15]
In late 2012 and early 2013, the newGeorgian government under Prime MinisterIvanishvili repeatedly proposed to revamp the Abkhazian Railway and getting it hooked on theGeorgian Railways, specifically to appeaseArmenia, and enabling a commercial link toRussia.[16] The proposal sparked domestic and international discussion in Armenia (the country with the most commercial interest in such a connection),[17][18] in Azerbaijan (which has fears it enables Russia with a more efficient military transport to its base inGyumri, Armenia) and in Russia (Russian Railways owning the Armenian-basedSouth Caucasus Railways).[19]
The Abkhaz authorities first reacted dismissively to cooperate with such initiative, but later changed their tone.[20] Azerbaijan shortly threatened with consequences for theBaku–Tbilisi–Kars railway connection, then due completion at the end of 2013, and suggested raising the gas price charged to Georgia. In Georgia the idea of the railway being reopened on theoccupied territories still faces significant opposition.[21][22]
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Media related toAbkhazian railway at Wikimedia CommonsTransit in Russian Caucasus (North Caucasian Federal District) | |
|---|---|
 Russian Railways | |
| Trolleybus |
|
| Tramway | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Major terminals | |
.svg){kind=logo} Georgian Railway |
|
|---|---|
 Tbilisi Metro | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Major terminals |
|
| Construction projects |
|
