Rapid Transit in Armenia - Facts and Numbers

Facts and Numbers

Today the metro operates as a single line, with a shuttle branch and covers 12 km (7.5 miles), with trains running every five minutes from 6:30 a.m. till 11 p.m. It serves about 60,000 passengers per day. In 2011, more than 17 million passengers rode the metro. The system employs about 1,200 workers. Due to Yerevan's uneven landscape, the metro in some cases goes above ground. Of the ten stations; seven are underground of which one is a single-vault shallow level, and the rest are pylon deep-level stations. Continuing the tradition of all ex-Soviet underground systems, most of the stations are exquisitely decorated, often blending Armenian national motifs with late-Soviet architecture.

When the system opened it initially had no depot, and service bays in the reversal sidings were used to make minor repairs instead. The proper depot Charbakh was opened in 1985 as part of the second extension. In the early 1990s the metro system had a total of 70 cars forming approximately 12 three-carriage trains. (All of them 81-717/714 models) However, since then the intermediate carriages were sold to the Moscow and Saint-Petersburg systems in return for overhaul repairs on the driving cars (which Charbakh has no facility or apparatus to perform).

In 2000-2001, for economic reasons, all of the intermediate 81-714 carriages stopped operating and the system currently has only 13 81-717 two-carriage trains running, (12 on the main line, one on the shuttle service). The annual budget for Yerevan Metro in 2002 was 1 billion 440 million drams (about $2.5 million). Of this amount about 800 million drams was financed by the State. The rest of the budget was allocated from tickets costs, trade and advertisement. A ride on the Yerevan Metro currently costs 100 drams (about 25 cents).

In 2012-2014 81-717 carriages will be refurbished. After the refurbishent trains will get the same exterior and interior as the 81-71M trains in Prague.