Armenia opens tender to rebuild railway to the Turkish border
Yerevan signals it wants to exclude Russia's state railway from reconstruction of the long-closed link
YEREVAN, Armenia (MNTV) — Armenia has taken a first step toward rebuilding a railway section leading to its closed border with Türkiye, unused since the early 1990s, in a move that signals a push to sideline Russia’s state railway operator, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reported.
Infrastructure Minister Davit Khudatian said the government has opened an international tender to design the 21-kilometer stretch from Gyumri to the border.
Russia’s state monopoly, Russian Railways (RZhD), has managed Armenia’s rail network under a 30-year contract since 2008, but Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has pressed to end that arrangement, arguing it deters Türkiye and Azerbaijan from using Armenian territory for transit.
Tensions rose when Pashinyan threatened legal action to strip RZhD of its rights or charge it up to $2 billion a year, before withdrawing the threats after warnings from Moscow, which has rejected transferring its management rights.
Khudatian said a separate tender for construction, expected to cost about $15 million and financed by Armenia’s government, would follow later this year, though he gave no timeline. Reconstruction on the Turkish side has reportedly already begun.
Ankara, however, continues to tie any opening of the border to the signing of an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty.
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