A group of Armenian parliamentarians made a working visit to a number of railway facilities in the republic and were familiarized with their activities, the press service of South Caucasus Railways (SCR) told the News-Armenia agency.
The National Assembly deputies were Volodya Badalyan, Hermine Naghdalyan, Gagik Abrahamyan, Gohar Yenokian, Manvel Ghazaryans, Gagik Melikyan and Vardan Khachatryan. Representatives of the Armenian Transport and Communication Ministry also went on the trip.
The purpose of the trip to the Masis Artashat area was to familiarize with the volume and quality of work undertaken by SCR lately. The parliamentary delegation visited Masis station, where a meeting was held with the governor of the Ararat region, Vardges Ovakimyanom.
At Masis station, the guests were shown the new station building and high-tech innovations. There was also a look around a repair workshop.
In the presence of the governor and heads of village administrations in the Ararat region, the SCR leadership touched upon the issue of cleaning debris along the railroad tracks and acceptance of a unified position to resolve this problem. From the station, the group went to Artashat station, on arrival inspecting the station building and the restored rails.
The working group subsequently came back to Yerevan and went to the locomotive depot, where the guests were shown workshops and new classrooms with simulators. Separately they were shown the site where preparatory work was being carried out on construction of a rolling stock wheel workshop, which should be built this year.
After the inspection, South Caucasus Railways management held a meeting with the MPs in the head office, which covered issues of legislative base of the company’s activity.
Director General Shevket Shaydullin voiced the most pressing problems in SCR’s collaboration with the government, which, according to deputies, will be discussed in detail at the Armenia and Russia inter-parliamentary committee on 21-24 March.
South Caucasus Railways is a 100% subsidiary of Russian Railways. Armenian Railways was given concessionary management of SCR, under a concession contract signed on February 13, 2008. The concession period is 30 years, with the right to extend it for another 10 years.
