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The story
The railway was founded in 1865, and operations started in 1871 between Poti and Kvirila (present day Zestaponi). The first passenger train ran on October 10, 1872, from Poti to Tbilisi central station.
From this central spine, the railway network expanded with links to: Rioni to Kutaisi (1877), Rioni-Tkibuli (1887), Zestaponi to Chiatura (1895). The Tbilisi to Baku line became operational in 1883, allowing transportation of Azeri oil through the port of Batumi. In 1899, the Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway connection between Georgia and Armenia was established. The Khashuri to Borjomi link was built in 1894, with the 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) Borjomi to Bakuriani narrow-gauge line operational from 1902, to serve the higher level skiing community. The Kakheti railway branch line was completed in 1915.
The second major development of Georgian railways was due to rapid industrialisation and need for better distribution of agricultural products, including tea, citrus and wine produce. This resulted in the construction of the branch lines to: Natanebi-Ozurgeti (1924); Brotseula-Tskaltubo (1934), Senaki-Ingiri-Gali (1930), Gali-Ochamchire-Sokhumi (1938), Gori-Tskhinvali (1940). The construction of the Sokhumi-Adler allowing direct connection to the Russian Railways network started during World War II (later Soviet Railways), and was in full operation by 1949.
The Marabda to Akhalkalaki line opened on 31 December 1986.
The rail connection between Kars and Tbilisi via Gyumri (Alexandropol, Leninakan) that began in 1889 ended in 1993 with the closing of the Turkish-Armenian border.
Modernisation
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Georgian Government took control of many of the key assets of the former Soviet Railways in the former Georgian SSR and undertook an aggressive privatisation campaign. The railway assets of Georgia were formed into the new 100% government-owned company JSC Georgian Railway – the biggest employer in the country (12,700 employees), which operates under the public law of the Enterprise Management Agency, part of the Ministry of Economic Development. It is charged with both management and maintenance of the rail infrastructure, as well as all operations of passenger and freight services. The team which forms the management body consist of The Assembly of Partners, the Supervisory Board and the Board of Directors. Company revenue in 2014 was $US287 million with a high EBITDA margin of 48.9%, debt was $US560 million. More than 95% of revenue comes from freight operations, more than half of which is transit.
Until 2004 Georgian Railway had been significantly affected by corruption. On the one hand, modernization and maintenance of the railway were neglected; for example, out of 11,000 rail cars, only 7,000 were in operation. On the other hand, the football stadium of Lokomotiv Tbilisi, the team of Georgian Railway, had one of the most modern sports sites in the country. General manager Akaki Chkhaidze was arrested in 2004 and spent several months in custody, before he redeemed himself for 3 million US dollars.
The railway company was restructured in the same year, and the general manager became subordinate to a supervisory board. From June 2004 until October 2005 David Onoprishvili, a former finance minister and a professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, was general manager.
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As part of a modernization program, 2,445 employees were laid off, while wages for remaining employees were increased by about 17 percent. Tariffs for goods (freight) transport were lowered, while modernized, air-conditioned rail cars and express services were launched for passengers, including four Stadler passenger trains. A program of new and renovated station buildings commenced in 2006. The station building of the Tbilisi central station, excluding the rail infrastructure, was reconstructed and officially inaugurated in May 2010. The stations Makhinjauri (a suburb of Batumi) and Kobuleti also received new station buildings.
The 63 kilometres (39 mi) long Zestaponi–Moliti–Khashuri section (“Gorges” section) is a part of the main Georgian railway line across mountainous terrain, with very steep gradient and tight curves. The track alignment imposes very low speeds on the line, and it leads to various operational problems. Currently it takes ca. 1.5 hours for a passenger train to cover the section, and much longer for freight trains because of brakes overheating. For this reason, the company is modernizing the section in order to increase capacity, reduce travel time, and improve safety as well as railway operation. Along this section of track several new tunnels, will be built, of which the new ca. 8.4 kilometres (5.2 mi) T9 tunnel will be the longest rail tunnel in Georgia. The T9 tunnel will consist of two parallel tubes connected with cross passages at intervals of 300 m. The project is planned to be completed in late 2019. After the completion of the tunnel, travel time for passenger trains on the Tbilisi - Batumi route will be reduced by 40 minutes.
From Wikipedia’s article on Georgian Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5