Yerevan Children's Railway
{{Infobox rail line
| name = Yerevan Children's Railway
| image = File:Kindereisenbahn-Erewan-Bahnhof neu.jpg
| caption = Hayrenik station platform in 2008
| status = Closed
| coordinates = {{Coord|40.1866|44.5005|region:AM_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| open = 9 June 1937
| close = 6 July 2024
| linelength = {{convert|4.2|km|mi|abbr=on}}
| gauge = {{track gauge|750mm}}
| map = 205px
}}
Yerevan Children's Railway ({{langx|hy|Երևանի մանկական երկաթուղի}}) is a {{Convert|2.1|km||-long|abbr=|adj=mid}} narrow gauge railroad loop passing through the Hrazdan gorge in Yerevan, Armenia. One of many children's railways that existed in the Soviet Union and continued functioning after its breakup. Master plan and the old wood building were designed by architect Mikael Mazmanyan in 1937. The current main station building was designed and built by architect Goar Grigoryan and Babken Sedrak Hakobyan in the late 1940s.
The railway was opened on 9 June 1937 and was in operation until 2024, no longer as an educational institution, but as a park railway operated by adults. In July of the same year, a decision was made to close it for operation. As of 2024, the railway is not functioning, the locomotives are inoperative, and the stations are closed.{{Cite web |title=История Ереванской ДЖД |url=https://www.instagram.com/yerevan_pike/p/C89qKvLMO83/?img_index=10 |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Ереванская Щука |publisher=www.instagram.com}}
History
In 1935, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia Aghasi Khanjian proposed the construction of the children's railway in Yerevan. In December 1935, the construction of the Yerevan Children's Railway was included by the USSR State Planning Committee in the annual economic plan for 1936.{{Cite web |date=2007-07-23 |title=Ереван. Детская железная дорога |url=http://www.dzd-ussr.ru/towns/erevan/index.html |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=www.dzd-ussr.ru}}
According to the project, the railway was supposed to be extended to pass over a bridge that would be built across the Hradzan River, stretching for additional one and a half kilometers, climbing to the top of Tsitsernakaberd as a funicular. These plans weren't realized.{{Cite web |last1=Бубушян |first1=Анна |last2=Геворкян |first2=Лена |last3=Погосян |first3=Екатерина |last4=Араратян |first4=Элеонора |last5=Зильфугарян |first5=Анна |last6=Тадевосян |first6=Ара |last7=Лорецян |first7=Мариам |last8=Аристакесян |first8=Эмин |last9=Мелконян |first9=Армине |display-authors=2 |date=2012-09-10 |title=Детская железная дорога: живая история |url=https://mediamax.am/ru/news/yerevan-XX-century/5807/ |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=mediamax.am |language=ru}}
On 22 April 1936, during the subbotnik in the city park on the left bank of the Hrazdan, attended by more than 10 thousand Komsomol members, a ceremony took place, in which Khanjian and the Minister of Railways of the Armenian SSR {{Ill|Babken Amatuni|hy|Բաբկեն Ամատունի}} laid the foundation stone of the main station.{{Cite news |last=Kibkalo |first=A. |year=1998 |title=Детские железные дороги — 1935-1998?... Ереванская Детская железная дорога (из истории дороги) |url=http://magzdb.elibrary.keenetic.pro/ul/417/1998/005/%D0%9B%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%201998-05.pdf |work=Локотранс |pages=18 |issue=5}}
The deadline for the completion of the project was set for 7 November 1937, yet the construction of the railway was completed four months ahead of schedule. On 9 July 1937, a train, consisting of locomotive 159-434, donated by the Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Plant, and three in-house made open passenger carriages, set off for the first time. Initially, a wooden building of the main station station was constructed but at the end of the 1940s, a new one was built in its place out of tuff.
In March 1959, the railway received two all-metal passenger carriages PAFAWAG. In 1971, it received a TU2-116 diesel locomotive.
In the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, the road ceased to be a children's railway. It was serviced by adults, and only operated on weekends, when the nearby amusement park was open. The train (sometimes consisting of one carriage) passed the Uraxutyun platform without stopping and stopped near the Pionerakan station. Since almost nothing was left of it, passengers did not leave the carriage, and the train immediately returned to the beginning of the route with its carriages facing forward.
In 2012, South Caucasus Railway carried out repair works of the railroad infrastructure.{{Cite web |date=2012-08-02 |title=Renovated "Children's Railway" Reopens in Yerevan's Hrazdan Gorge |url=https://hetq.am/en/article/17201 |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=hetq}} In April 2024, Russian "RID" holding, tasked with restoring the railway, announced its decision to abandon the project, citing the lack of cooperation from the local authorities.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-04-10 |title=Ստիպված ենք հրաժարվել Երևանի մանկական երկաթուղու վերակառուցման ծրագրից․ հայտարարություն |url=https://auroranews.am/news/2024-04-10-stipvats-enq-hrazharvel-erevani-mankakan-erkatughu-verakarutsman-tsragrits-haytararutyun |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=Aurora News |language=hy}} The railway was closed in July of the same year.
Facilities
The Children's Railway has two terminal stations—Hayrenik (main) and Pionerakan—and one intermediate platform—Uraxutyun—as well as a {{Convert|45|m|4=-long|abbr=|adj=mid}} tunnel. During the last decades of operation, only Hayrenik station was in use. The railway utilizes 750 mm gauge. Total length of the track is {{Convert|2.1|km||-long|abbr=|adj=mid}}.{{Cite web |title=ЭМБ // Малая Закавказская ж.д. (Ереван) |url=https://narrow.parovoz.com/emb/index.php?ID=2975 |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=narrow.parovoz.com}} Two unused {{Convert|400|m||-long|abbr=|adj=mid}} tunnels connect the railway park with the city center.
Since the mid-1980s, signaling and blocking devices have not been used on the railway, although masts from semaphores have been preserved. Due to the lack of a second track, the train returns with its carriages facing forward. For this reason, the passing track at the Hayrenik station was used only for parking rolling stock.
File:Child-railwat-Yerevan.jpg|Hayrenik station
File:2024 14 Ереванская детская ЖД.gif|Decorative tunnel
File:Childrens Railway, Yerevan (5211879304).jpg|Passenger carts
File:Երևանի մանկական երկաթուղի11.jpg|Uraxutyun platform
File:Children's railway in Yerevan.jpg|Tracks
File:Open air gym of Hrazdan gorge (26.10.2018) 1.jpg|Outdoor gym in the adjacent park
References
Sources
- Fadeev, G. M.; Kraskovskiĭ, E.; Uzdin, M. M., eds. (1994). [https://djvu.online/file/aTlVommYKiSFW Istoriia zheleznodorozhnogo transporta Rossii] (in Russian). Sankt-Peterburg; Moskva: AO "Ivan Fedorov". {{ISBN|978-5-85952-005-3}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Yerevan landmarks}}
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1937
Category:Rail transport in Armenia
Category:Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union
Category:Rail transport in the Soviet Union
Category:750 mm gauge railways in Armenia