TBILISI, April 8 – Georgia’s government says train travel is about to get faster and broader, with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announcing new rail directions from Tbilisi and major cuts in travel time on two key routes.
Speaking at a government meeting on Wednesday, Kobakhidze said the railway network will add a Tbilisi-Kutaisi direction and that rehabilitation of the Tbilisi-Batumi railway will be completed in August. Once that work is finished, he said, travel time from the capital to the Black Sea city of Batumi will drop from five and a half hours to four hours. That would cut the journey by one and a half hours.
Kobakhidze also said rehabilitation of the Tbilisi-Akhaltsikhe railway will be completed in August. As a result, he said, that route will return after having been canceled since 2009. He added that travel time on the line will fall from six hours to three hours compared with the old schedule, cutting the journey in half.
