News - After a fatal accident, the railway and the community are blaming each other.

Due to the lack of crossing regulations at the railway crossing in Sis village, Ararat region, a passenger Opel collided with a freight train. The driver, 42-year-old Karon, died on the spot. He was from Dvin village in the same region and at 6 a.m. was driving to the Meymandar wholesale vegetable market. The crossing between the railway and the road in Sis village has no crossing attendant or signaling equipment such as a barrier, yellow beacon, Stop signs, etc. The situation is further complicated by the village's climatic conditions. In Sis, the Ararat region experiences some of the region's worst fogs; due to low-lying terrain and fish-ponds, visibility at dusk and dawn reaches about 50 meters. Neither an approaching train nor road signs are visible. The intersection should be regulated with a barrier. Responsibility for the poor condition of the crossing is shared among all responsible authorities. The South Caucasus Railway company does not have an attendant at the Sis crossing, spokesperson Ruben Grzhelyan told Epress.am. Of the company's 100 crossings, only 30 have an attendant; the others are self-regulating. The important issue is that some road signs are missing. The responsibility for this lies within the municipality's jurisdiction. The municipality should apply to the police, which should provide the signs, the spokesperson said. Masis municipality's press spokesperson Hamaspyr Kerobyan told Epress.am: the railway crossings are not in our jurisdiction; I do not know whose jurisdiction they are, but they certainly are not in ours. We have not received an oral response from the Road Department of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure; they asked us to send a written inquiry in the minister's name. There is no answer yet. Sis village's administrative head Hrant Alexanyan told Epress.am that two months ago their commune head wrote to the South Caucasus Railway explaining the crossing's danger and asking for measures to be taken. They have not received a response yet. According to him, at the crossing there is also a pothole on the rails that damages vehicle tires and makes it harder for drivers to pass. The residents of Sis have tried to cover the pothole themselves by filling it with gravel. Meymandar market is the country's largest wholesale market. Trade there occurs mainly at night and in the early morning. The main road leading to the market has been closed for several months due to the collapse of a bridge in Hayanist village in Masis municipality. Hayanist residents say that bridges often collapse because of trucks from stone quarries. The villagers are forced to reach Meymandar via a bypass road through Sis village. Although traffic has intensified, the railway crossing has not been equipped, and no safety measures have been taken.