International Railroad Discussion > Georgia, Part 4, Akhalkalaki International Station

In fall, 2017 I travelled from Kazakhstan to Bulgaria by train, bicycle and ferry.  I've posted about Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and some of Georgia.  

In this post, we return to Georgia, by bicycle, on a 7 day bicycle ride from Gyumri, Armenia to Batumi, Georgia.  

I re-entered Georgia at the Ninotsminda border crossing, and spent the night in a hotel there.  

The town of Ninotsminda is on what was an old branch line, running SW from Tbilisi into the mountains, and terminating 10 kilometers further west in village named Akhalkalaki.  

But, now the branch has been upgraded into a mainline, and new track has been built through the mountains to the south and into Turkey, to Kars.  This re-connects the former USSR to Turkey.  The Soviet-era link which went from Gyumri, Armenia to Kars, Turkey was closed in about 1993 after relations between the two countries deteriorated and the border was closed.  

In October, 2017 when I passed through, the new station was complete on the outside, and the large yard was largely complete.  This is where all trains will have their wheels changed out, from European Standard Gauge to Russian Wide Gauge.  And all passengers will need to go through customs.  

When the line is open, overnight trains will run from Ankara Turkey (a few 100 kms east of Istanbul) to Baku, Azerbaizan, on the Caspian Sea.  Via Erzerum, Kars, Ahalkalaki and Tbilisi.  

Photos: 
1, 2, 3: Newly rebuilt electrified mainline outside the town of Ninotsminda. 

Photo location
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3080171,43.5357614,656m/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/18 01:17 by gobbl3gook.

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Pic 4, the new freight yard, for swapping trucks on freight trains and passing through freight customs.  

Pic 5, new passenger tracks and the new international station

Pic 6,. station platform.  That's my ride in the foreground.  

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7, 8 and 9.  More views of the station.  A very striking design


 

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Station details: 
10: Name
11, 12: Interior waiting rooms

As you can see, the entire station area was deserted.  

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13: this collonade was at the west end of the yard.  Any guesses as to what it will be when it's done?  
location
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3383632,43.4888712,799m/

14: map showing the route of the new international mainline from Turkey to Georgia.  Blue line is upgraded branch line, yellow line is newly constructed mainline.   

15. Bonus pic, pretty sunporch on a house in Ninotsminda



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/18 01:28 by gobbl3gook.

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A few kilometers west of Akhalkalaki I was rolling down the Paravani River and came across this railcar repurposed as a covered bridge. 
Location
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4312667,43.4688856,319m/

16, from a distance
17, up close, looks ready for boarding.  
18, inside, the floor is rotted out, and completely removed in one section.  

Questions, comments?  

Photos taken October, 2017.  

Ted in OR

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Ted,

Thanks for the Map!  That really helps a lot.

Dave

gobbl3gook Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A few kilometers west of Akhalkalaki I was rolling
> down the Paravani River and came across this
> railcar repurposed as a covered bridge. 
> Location
> https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4312667,43.4688856
> ,319m/
>
> 16, from a distance
> 17, up close, looks ready for boarding.  
> 18, inside, the floor is rotted out, and
> completely removed in one section.  
>
> Questions, comments?  
>
> Photos taken October, 2017.  
>
> Ted in OR

This is absolutely fascinating. What a find!

Posted from iPhone

> Questions, comments?  
YES,keep them comimg! I enjoyed the
pictures you posted before.
What I notice is the overall,what I call
barreness and starkness of the country
and houses like the one with the sun porch.

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

Hi All, 

I'm glad you like the photos.  

I'll have another post tonight.  

zorz -- I also thought that railcar bridge was pretty clever.  I wonder why more people haven't done this?  There must still be steel framed railcars available for scrap in carious parts of the world, including the US.  Seems like every state has at least one collection of passenger equipment that was assembled by someone decades ago, who has now gotten old and useless for restoration, and the collection goes to scrap when they die.  Instead, get those battered coaches onto trucks, give them a fresh paint job, and install them as pedestrian bridges in parks. 

Attached are 3 maps showing my route through the Caucusian nations.  
Legend: 
Orange lines -- travel by bicycle
Yellow lines -- travel by train
Blue lines -- travel by ferry

And here's a list of all of the posts so far.  

Kazakhstan, part 1, Almaty 2 Train Station
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4467027

Kazakhstan, part 2. Trainwatching near the Almaty 1 station
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4467835

Kazakhstan, part 3, Almaty 1 train station
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4468789

Kazakhstan, part 4. Boarding train 41
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4469593

Kazakhstan, part 5. Train 41 to Turkistan
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4470456

Kazakhstan, part 6. Turkistan City
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4471336

Kazakhstan, part 7. Silk Road Express on the steppes
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4472113

Kazakhstan, part 8. Train 378 to Aktau
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4472772

Kazakhstan, part 9. Train car details
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4473623

Kazakhstan, part 10. Stations and etc.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4474370

Kazakhstan, part 11. Aktau City
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4475213

Kazakhstan, Part 12. Caspian Sea Ferry: new Asia-Europe routing
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4476138

Azerbaijan, part 1. Baku station
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4477020

Azerbaijan, part 2. Train 664 to Balakan 
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4477815

Azerbaijan, part 3. Balakan
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4478587


Georgia, part 1. Mtskheta
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4495266

Georgia, part 2. Tbilisi
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4496046

Georgia, part 3. Train 371 to Armenia
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4496838


Armenia, part 1.Yerevan Railway Station
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4497661

Armenia, part 2. Regional Trains
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4498496

Armenia, part 3. Yerevan yards
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4499320

Armenia, part 4. Yerevan Childrens Railway
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4500760

Armenia, part 5. Childrens Railway Station
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4501699

Armenia, part 6. Railway museum
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4502704

Armenia, Part 7. Boarding train 684 to Gyumri
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4515515

Armenia, Part 8. Riding train 684
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4525133

Armenia, part 9. Gyumri Station
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4525945

Armenia, part 10. Streamliner meet
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4526582

Armenia, Part 11. Gyumri roundhouse
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4527413


Georgia, Part 4, Akhalkalaki International Station 
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4586814 

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Also, reposting from Kazahkstan Part 12, the "Trans-Eurasia by Rail" option that will be available after the Kars-Akhalkalhi rail line opens up.   From the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean by rail, without going through Russia.  

And a single map showing my route through the Caucasian nations.  Again, blue is ferry, yellow = train, and orange = bicycle.  

Note that these countries are quite small.  For instance, the Republic of Georgia is about half the size of the US State of Georgia.  (see also the scale of miles in each map in the previous set of maps)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/18 18:58 by gobbl3gook.

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Many thanks for your travelogue, pix, descriptions, geopolitical observations and especially your index/TOC which makes for easy re-reading.