“Georgian Railway plays a central role in the context of the Middle Corridor, and we’re paying considerable attention to its development,” Deputy Minister for Economy and Sustainable Development Tamar Ioseliani stated whilst appearing on GPB First Channel’s programme ‘Business Partner’.

“The railway modernisation project has been completed and became operational in December. Within the framework of the project, highly significant work was carried out on infrastructure; the most difficult section, Ugheltekhili, was modernised, and approximately 90 km of railway track was laid. This project is notable for its uniqueness, as it involved the construction of the region’s longest tunnel, measuring approximately 9 kilometres.

Accordingly, the railway has implemented very significant measures in this direction,” the Deputy Minister noted.

Tamar Ioseliani emphasised that the state takes a comprehensive, broad view of transport sector development. Accordingly, investments are being made for this purpose, including nearly 1 billion lari spent on the railway modernisation project.

However, according to the Deputy Minister, completion of the modernisation project will also be followed by renewal of the railway’s rolling stock, which should help service the increased cargo traffic coming from the Middle Corridor.

“We must be prepared for the rapidly growing cargo traffic in the Middle Corridor. The figures speak for themselves; in ports, we had approximately 17 per cent growth in 2025 in terms of containers, whilst there was 18 per cent growth for general cargo. In total, converted to tonnes, growth reached 7%.

Moreover, in the context of the Middle Corridor, we had 33 per cent growth in containers on the railway. Georgian Railway and, accordingly, Georgia’s ports must be ready for this cargo, which requires appropriate infrastructure projects as well as rolling stock renewal,” Tamar Ioseliani stated.

As the Deputy Minister noted, it is precisely based on the current situation that the state has decided for Georgian Railway to purchase new locomotives for 2026-2027 and, accordingly, to renew its wagon fleet as well.

“Georgian Railway is implementing very significant measures in this direction; they have a specific plan to be ready for the situation in the Middle Corridor by 2028-2029,” Tamar Ioseliani noted.