YEREVAN, December 26. /ARKA/. South-Caucasian Railways’ investments in Armenia will total over 1.2 billion Russian rubles in 2009, Shevket Shaidullin, director general of South-Caucasian Railways said at a press conference on Thursday.

He said that under the 2009 financial program, the company had to invest AMD 1 billion 172 million rubles.

“However, after some corrections made in the program over the year, we invested 1 billion 254 million, of which 1 billion 26 million in infrastructures and 227 million in the rolling stock.”

Shaidullin said that the company’s 2009 expenses, including uncompleted investments of 2008, total 2 billion 393 million rubles.

He said expenses for infrastructure totaled 1 billion 338 million rubles in 2009.

Of them, 825 million was spent for construction, 375 million for acquisition of equipments and 124 million for buildings.

The director general of South-Caucasian Railways said that expenses for rolling stock amounted to 1 billion 54 million Russian rubles, of which 337 million was spent for repairing electric locomotives and 91 million for purchasing new ones.

The South-Caucasian Railways CJSC is concession manager of the Armenian Railway Company. South-Caucasian Railway, fully owned by the Russian Railways Company, listed in its fixed assets the rolling stock of the Armenian Railway on June 1, 2008, under a concession contract of February 13, 2008.

Armenian Railway has been handed over to the South-Caucasian Railways CJSC for 30 years with a right for one-decade prolongation. M.V.-0--