‘The Armenian’ from Batumi to Yerevan

Over on platform number two of Batumi station this afternoon stand two very different trains. On one side a new double decker Georgian Stadler electric train headed for Tblisi, and opposite it stand seven rather battered old Armenian carriages pulled by a Georgian engine known as train 201, or ‘The Armenian’. It will also head to Tbilisi (at a much slower pace), then turn south, crossing the Armenian frontier and on to Yerevan. I’m very early, and at first the guard of carriage number 6 says I can’t come on board for another 25 minutes. This is a Soviet style […]