DUSHANBE, September 5, Asia-Plus — Over the past eight months of this year, Tajik railways has shipped 9.527 million tons of cargoes, which is 7.7 percent more than in the same period of last year, Asia-Plus has learned from Usmon Qalandarov, the head of economic department of the Tajik Railways.
According to him, cargoes delivered to Tajikistan mainly include alumina, nonferrous metals, oil products, wheat flour, building materials and the cargoes exported from Tajikistan include primary aluminum, cotton, tinned goods and farm produce.
Over the same eight-month period, the Tajik Railways has carried 487,700 passengers, which is 3.4 percent more than in January-August 2006. The largest passenger traffic volume has been reported on routes to the Russian Federation. Over the report period, 129,250 people have traveled to Russia by rail, which is 20,800 people more than in the same period of last year, the Tajik railway official said.
In the meantime, according to the CIS council for statistics, the volume of cargo shipped by all-purpose transportation of Tajikistan rose 18.2 percent in the year to August 1, 2007.
The Tajik Railways was established in 1994.
Tajikistan’s rolling-stock includes 1,766 cargo cars, 342 passenger carriages and 57 diesel locomotives. Over the first two quarters of this year, the Tajikthe Railwways has repaired 5 diesl locomtives. They have been repiared at the Tashkent carrige-building works in Uzbekistan. In all, some 80 percent of the country’s rolling-stock has been repaired so far.
At present Tajik Railways offers three routes to the Russian Federation (Dushanbe-Moscow, Kulob-Moscow, Khujand-Saratov) and four domestic routes (Dushanbe-Konibodom, Qurghon Teppa-Konibodom, Dushanbe-Pakhtaobod and Qurghon Teppa-Kulob).
The total length of rails in Tajikistan is 950 kilometers; of that, 680 kilometers are the main railways. At present there are 31 railway stations in the republic.
