Armenia and Russia Set 3 Months for Rail Concession Plan

Armenia and Russia agreed on 14 October 2026 to set up a working group that will propose, within three months, how to make Armenia's railways more competitive, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on 15 October 2026, according to ARKA. The group was agreed at a meeting in Yerevan between Pashinyan and Oleg Belozerov, director general of Russian Railways, which owns the concession operator South Caucasus Railway.

The question on the table is who should manage the network. Pashinyan said a rational approach would be to alter the current structure of concession management, and that transferring management to a third party could be more effective. He also said Armenia has no fundamental objection to the network staying under a Russian concession and is open to Russian proposals.

Two positions

ARKA reported that Russian partners said they know how to solve the problem and offered their own proposals. Sanctions are a point of difference: Russia does not see them as an obstacle, while Armenia considers them a problem, Pashinyan said. JAMnews reported that Russia says it has invested about $400 million in the railways during the concession and that no dividends have been paid. CBJ has seen that figure only in the JAMnews digest and has not verified it independently.

On the same day, ARKA reported, Pashinyan ordered a separate working group to examine the efficiency of South Caucasus Railway's concession management; the text of that item was not available to CBJ.

The projects behind it

Pashinyan named three strategic projects: restoring the Ijevan to Hrazdan line, building a wheelset-changing facility at Akhurik to deal with the gauge difference between Armenia and Europe, and connecting the Vanadzor to Gyumri and Ijevan to Hrazdan lines through the Lermontovo to Fioletovo section. He acknowledged they are complex in investment, technical and organisational terms. Azernews, which also reported the meeting on 15 October, said the talks covered the Gyumri to Akhurik to Türkiye border section and the Arazdayan to Nakhchivan line.

CBJ has covered the wider transit picture, including Russian railway claims, in TRIPP route stalls and Russian rail claims over an Armenia link, and the EU side in the EU-Armenia connectivity partnership.

Why it matters

A concession that runs the national network has a say over how any new link is built, from the Akhurik gauge facility to a route toward Türkiye. Setting a three-month clock gives both sides a deadline to table proposals rather than trade claims. It does not change who runs the railway: the group only proposes.

What to watch

• The proposals due in mid-January 2027, three months after the 14 October meeting, and whether a third-party manager is named.
• The second working group on concession management efficiency and any findings it publishes.
• Whether the Russian side puts its $400 million investment claim into a formal document.

Sources: ARKA, 15 October 2026; ARKA on the concession working group, 15 October 2026; Azernews, 15 October 2026; JAMnews digest, 12 to 16 October 2026