News - Academic City will have subway and streetcar, Armenia education minister says

We are discussing all possible [public] transport options to reach the Academic City, as the experience of implementing similar projects in various countries shows that the most important key to success is [public] transport access. This was announced by Zhanna Andreasyan, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, at the special meeting of Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport of the National Assembly of Armenia. "Therefore, it is very important for us that the Academic City is accessible not only from one place and in one way, which would mean that it is not accessible, but in various ways, in various directions, and with various [public] transport options," the minister said, adding that all options are currently being discussed. According to her, the fully developed plan of the Academic City will be ready by this June, and in parallel, work is being carried out toward landscape design, road network, and necessary infrastructure design, after which the implementation will be in phases. Moreover, one of the main points of the first phase will be the start of work on the railway. "A railway line—which at the moment is used more as freight—passes through the territory of the Academic City. We will convert it to use for passenger purposes. We want to make it the main [public] transport hub of Academic City, which will go from the Sasuntsi Davit [railway] station [in Yerevan] to the Academic City, and there will be a [railway] station there, Andreasyan said. As for the development of a subway route to and from the Academic City, according to the minister, they envision it from Yerevan’s Ajapnyak subway station that will be built. According to the minister, public transportation access to the Academic City will be ensured in several ways, and besides the railway and subway, a streetcar route and some other means of public transport also are planned to be launched.