A rail link connecting Uzbekistan and southern Tajikistan is expected to reopen for traffic tomorrow.
“Uzbekistan has completed work on repairing the Galaba-Amuzang railway, which connects Uzbekistan and southern Tajikistan,” a source in the Tajik government told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the first freight train will arrive at the Khosahdi railway station in Shahritous district (Khatlon province) on March 1.
On this occasion, a meeting of senior representatives of local authorities of Khatlon province of Tajikistan and Surkhandarya region of Uzbekistan as well as senior representatives of the transport ministries of the two countries will be held at the border, the source added.
Tajik Minister of Transport Khudoyor Khudoyorzoda told reporters in Dushanbe on February 15 that resumption of traffic along that railway was of significant importance for Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. “This railway could be used for transporting Tajik goods, particularly cement, to Afghanistan through the Uzbek city of Termez,” the minister said.
Recall, the Tajik side proposed to resume traffic along the Termez to Qurghon Teppa railway at the session of the Tajik Tajik-Uzbek commission for trade and economic cooperation in July 2015.
Rail traffic stoppages resulting in delays of cargo supplies to Tajikistan began in Uzbekistan in November, 2009. The rail blockade imposed by Tashkent on Tajikistan came as a response to the intensification of construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
The conflict between the two countries saw escalation in November, 2011 following a blast at the Galaba-Amuzang stretch of the Termez to Qurghon Teppa railroad in southern Uzbekistan, not far from the Tajik and Afghan borders. The incident was promptly described as a terrorist attack by the Uzbek media and Uzbekistan suspended the Galaba-Amuzang traffic in its wake, effectively subjecting Tajikistan's southern Khatlon province to a transit blockade.
In the process, Tajik experts actually contested the version by which the blast had been a terrorist act and expressed a view that, citing the incident, Tashkent seized the opportunity to put Dushanbe under pressure.
Tajik railroad officials said Uzbekistan's railroad company could easily restore the bridge damaged by the blast within 24 hours and stressed that Uzbekistan brushed off the Tajik offer of help in doing so.
In the spring 2012, Uzbekistan dismantled the Termez to Qurghon Teppa railroad without sending any notification to the Tajik side.
