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From Tbilisi to Telavi by train
(via Tianeti and Akhmeta)

RAILWAY LINES FROM TBILISI THROUGH KAKHETI AND BEYOND

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A map showing various projects for railways east of Tbilisi. (Please click for a slightly larger image.)

The map's key lists four railway lines:

• marked with a solid red line, a "northern Kakhetian railway line" 182 miles long (of which 169 needed to be built), entering Kakheti from the east (from Balaken and Zakatala in Azerbaijan), linking up with the existing line to Telavi near Bakurkhevi, and then continuing along the line Telavi-Akhmeta-Tianeti-Sioni before heading west to the Aragvi Valley and then down along the Georgian Military Road to the main line at Mtskheta);

• alternating dashes and dots: the engineer G. M. Romanov's proposal (271 miles long, of which 217 needed to be built), which would have involved extending the existing line from Telavi to Akhmeta, building a different "loop" around Sighnaghi (to the SE rather than the NW), and a southern branch line running S from Sighnaghi before heading W to Davit-Gareji and then S to rejoin the main Tbilisi-Elisavetpol (today's Ganja in Azerbaijan) line just SE of Lake Jandari;

• just dashes: the southern route, i.e. the existing (but now almost completely defunct) Tbilisi-Sagarejo-Bakurkhevi-Gurjaani-Telavi line (187 miles long, all built), with branch lines to Tsnori and Dedoplistskaro (the latter two not shown on this map); and

• clear and solid dashes: a northern variant for the first (northern) route, which instead of heading south from Tianeti (to Sioni, &c.) would have headed north-west towards the (modern) Jinvali Reservoir before running down along the Georgian Military Road.