New Athos Cave Railway

New Athos Cave Railway (Abkhaz: Афон Ҿыц аҳаҧытә метро; Georgian: ახალი ათონის მღვიმური რკინიგზა, Russian: Новоафонская пещерная железная дорога), also known as New Athos Subway, is an underground electric railroad serving the New Athos Cave, in the town of New Athos, Abkhazia.[2]

New Athos Cave Railway
New Athos subway train, built in Riga.
Overview
OwnerNew Athos Cave
LocaleNew Athos
Termini
Stations3[1]
Service
TypeMetro
Rolling stock3 trains
History
Opened4 July 1975
Technical
Line length1.291 km (0.802 mi)[1]
Number of tracksSingle track
Track gauge914 mm (3 ft)[1]
Electrification300 V DC[1]
Operating speed30 km/h (19 mph)[1]
Cave Railway and the two national railway stations within the town: New Athos and Psyrtscha

Route

The line is a single track and electrified narrow gauge railway with a third rail. Opened in 1975, it has a length of 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) and three stations. It starts at the entrance of the caves, nearby Psyrtscha station of the Abkhazian railway. From the Entrance Gate station, it reaches two cave halls: Apsny Hall (or Abkhazia) and Anakopea Hall. Apsny station serves to lead the tourists at the beginnings of the show cave, and Anakopea to bring them back to the entrance gate, at the end of the tour. The line counts a depot just before Entrance station, and a service tunnel between it and Apsny.[1][3]

Station Georgian name Russian name km Notes
Entrance Gate შესასვლელი ჭიშკარი

(shesasvleli tchishkari)

 Входные Ворота
(Vkhodnye Vorota)
0.00
 Link to Abkhazian railway at the nearby station of Psyrtscha
43.09065°N 40.810008°E / 43.09065; 40.810008
Hall Apsny აფხაზეთი

(ap'khazet'i)

 Зал Апсны
(Zal Apsny)
1.00
 43.09959°N 40.81114°E / 43.09959; 40.81114
Hall Anakopia თბილისი

(t'bilisi)

 Зал Анакопия
(Zal Anakopiya)
1.29
 43.10184°N 40.81129°E / 43.10184; 40.81129

Rolling stock

The railway has three power-concentrated battery electric multiple units built by the Railroad Machinery Plants of Riga in Latvia, including two Ep «Tourist» trains and the newly built Ep-563 train, and also the auxiliary mining battery-electric locomotive ARP8 which is used in case of malfunction of EMU's motor car.[4] Two Ep trains were built in 1975 and later both of them were modernized in Moscow in 2005 and 2009.[3] In 2013, due to the wear of these trains, the railway management ordered a new train in Riga, which was built the next year.[5] Since 2014 this it been the only train in use. The first Ep train is based at Anakopia station for doubling the Ep 563 train in case of malfunction. Another Ep train is based at the depot.[4] Each train consists of 6 cars, including 1 power car with driver's cab, motors and power equipment and 5 trailer cars for passengers (4 intermediate cars and 1 observation car in the end).[6] Both models run either on a third rail with 380 V DC or batteries with 240 V DC being used for short unelectrified sections at switches without a third rail, and also at passenger stations where the third rail has no voltage for safety reasons.[5]

  • Ep train at Entrance station
    Ep train at Entrance station
  • Ep train at Anakopia station
    Ep train at Anakopia station
  • Ep train interior, 2006
    Ep train interior, 2006
  • Ep-563 train interior, 2014
    Ep-563 train interior, 2014
  • Ep train arriving at Anakopea station
    Ep train arriving at Anakopea station

See also

References
  1. "New Athos Cave Railway". metro-novyafon.narod.ru.
  2. The political status of Abkhazia is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Georgia in 1992, Abkhazia is formally recognised as an independent state by 5 UN member states (two other states previously recognised it but then withdrew their recognition), while the remainder of the international community recognizes it as as de jure Georgian territory. Georgia continues to claim the area as its own territory, designating it as Russian-occupied territory.
  3. "New Athos Cave Railway" (in Russian). poisk-tura.com. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  4. "New Athos Metro". transphoto.ru. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  5. "Riga built a train for Abkhazia (video)" (in Russian). Telegraf.bb.lv. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  6. "Unikalitāte it visā jeb elektrovilciens Turist" (in Latvian). Spoki. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
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