Georgian Railway Chief Visits Abkhazia

Chief of the Georgian state-run Railway Company Irakli Ezugbaia visited breakaway Abkhazia on February 24-25 to discuss technical issues related to the resumption of railway traffic between Russia and Georgia via the unrecognized republic.

“From the technical point of view both sides are ready to launch a reconstruction of the railway as soon as there is the political will to re-open traffic,” Tamar Machavariani, a spokesperson for the Georgian Railway Company, told Civil Georgia on February 27.

In October, 2005 a group of Georgian, Russian and Abkhaz experts completed an assessment of the current condition of the 200 kilometer section of the railway in Abkhazia to find out the needs for its rehabilitation.