Clash of trains

In todays clash of trains we have two extraordinary contesters:

• The Georgian Railways with their night train from Zugdidi to Tbilisi

The train.

In the compartment.

The corridor of the coach.

• The Armenian Railways with their night train from Tbilisi to Yerevan

The train.

The locomotive.
Note the bad state of the platform in the Tbilisi main station.

The corridor of the coach.

In the compartment.

Both railways use the same sleeping coaches from the soviet times. They also use the same classification system:

• 1st class:  2 beds per compartment
• 2nd class: 4 beds per compartment
• 3rd class:  6 beds per compartment

The first round is the price. Only 25 Lari for the 1st class in the Georgian train beats 79 Lari for 1st class in the Armenian train. These are 3 points: 3:0

Second round is comfort. The Georgians renovated the coaches while the Armenians use original ones. This gives an extra point for the Armenians for living history and one for the renovation for the Georgians: 4:1. The Georgians offer power plugs and a TV. Unfortunately they doesn't work. This is a penalty point for Georgia: 3:1.
The beds are in general quite hard. While the Georgians modernized the whole coach the Armenians simply provide a mattress as only improvement. This is very simple but helps a lot. This is an extra point for Armenia: 3:2. It was very cold outside and the Armenian coach was pre-heated while the Georgian one was completely cold at the beginning. The Georgians later turned the heating on to full power leading to more than 30 °C in the coach. To come back to an acceptable temperature they opened all windows while the train was running through the rain. In fact the feet were grilled while lying on the bed while the head was cold because of the open window. These are two penalty points for Georgia: 1:2.

Last round is service. The Armenians provide a bistro and there really cheap drinks and snacks. They allow you to walk through the train. The Georgians don't have a bistro and you are imprisoned in your coach. Even if there are 30 minutes before the train leaves, you are not allowed to get out of the coach once you entered it. So one point for the Armenians: 1:3. Because of the missing heating I asked the unfriendly conductor to turn on the heating but was rudely pushed by her into my compartment and she then just closed the door. I made the mistake to ask her if there are any working power plugs. I also mentioned that the nice flat screen TVs do not work. I got no reply but was vituperated instead. I have never been treated like that since a long time and therefore lost my countenance. So we yelled at each other a while. I yelled in English she yelled in Russian - somehow funny nevertheless. The Armenian conductor never smiled but was OK. So one point for Armenia: 1:4. The border control took almost 2 hours, one on each side of the border for only about 50 persons. That sucks as one cannot sleep, is not allowed to leave the coach and the toilets are closed. The Armenian railway is not guilty so no penalty point despite it was very inconvenient.

To calm down I shot some melfies.The thing with the melfies is
  that effects are important and also what else one can see in the mirror.

I bought this beer in the bistro. This was the first beer I drank in the
Caucasus that I didn't like. It has a very special taste that the Armenians like however.
It is therefore the market leader in Armenia.

So the winner is the Armenian railway with 1:4. Congratulations.
Your price is nevertheless too high since a bus to Yerevan costs only 30 - 50 Lari and it takes only 5 hours (including the border control). Therefore I fear that your night train will not survive. At least you should encourage the border police to work much quicker if you want to have a chance to compete.

Could I sleep? In the Armenian coach yes, but it was too short because of the boarder control. In the Georgian coach I could not sleep. I was so tired that I slept most of the following day in Tbilisi so that there was no advantage to take the night train.