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The Kukushka (Russian for "little cuckoo") is a long narrow-gauge railway line linking the town of 
Borjomi
Borjomi ( ka, ბორჯომი) is a resort town in south-central Georgia, 160 km from Tbilisi, with a population of 11,122 (2021). It is one of the municipalities of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region and is situated in the northwestern p ...
(820 m asl) to the daba and ski resort of Bakuriani (1,700 m asl) in Georgia.
The construction of this line began in 1897, when Georgia was still part of the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. The difficult terrain caused construction to take four years, and the first train ran in January 1902. Gustave Eiffel
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (born Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; ; ; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway ...
was commissioned by the Romanovs to design the Eiffel Bridge, Tsagveri The Eiffel Bridge is a bridge over the Tsemistskal river, on the Borjomi–Bakuriani railway near the town of Tsagveri.
History
Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia ordered the bridge from the French engineer-constructor and bridge builder ...
over the Tsemistskhali River between the stations of Tsaghveri and Tsemi.
Originally, trains were pulled by a steam engine built by H.K. Porter, imported from America, and passengers travelled in open carriages protected by handrails. The line was electrified in 1966, when the small steam engine was replaced by an electric "crocodile
Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...
" locomotive made by the Škoda works
The Škoda Works ( cs, Škodovy závody, ) was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century, founded by Czech engineer Emil Škoda in 1859 in Plzeň, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire. It is the predece ...
in Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
.
The line is currently operated by Borjomi–Bakuriani Railway LLC (BBR), a subsidiary of Georgian Railways
Georgian Railway LLC ( ka, საქართველოს რკინიგზა, tr) is the national railway company of Georgia.
A vital artery linking the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, it sits on the shortest route between Europe and Ce ...
.
Although the line was until 1991 also used to transport andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomi ...
from a mine near Bakuriani, the Kukushka is now exclusively a passenger service used by tourists and local residents. Travel time is 2.5 hours (average speed 15 km/h), and there are two trains a day in each direction. Connection to Tbilisi is ensured, but not vice versa.
The train service has stopped as of 2022. It is not known if it will be continued, but the Bakuriani Development Agency is actively working to ensure that it does.Personal communication at the train station, June 2021
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borjomi-Bakuriani railway Kukushka Railway lines in Georgia (country) 900 mm gauge railways in Georgia (country) Railway lines opened in 1902