DSUSHANBE, October 18, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan’s Railways seeks investors for the purchase of new train cars.
The main problem facing Tajikistan’s Railways is shortage of train cars, Vladimir Sobkalov, the deputy head of Tajik Railways, remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 17.
According to him, many both passenger carriages and cargo cars have outlived their service life, while Tajik Railways does not have funds for the purchase of new train cars.
He noted that electricity and fuel prices had risen considerably lately, while passenger fares and shipment tariffs have remained the same and therefore, the enterprise does not have funds to purchase new train cars.
“Being monopolist on the market of railway service, we do not have the right to raise shipment tariffs and passenger fares independently; any rise in tariffs should be considered on the governmental level,” said Sobkalov, “Therefore to renew our rolling-stock and repair train cars we use our own resources.”
He also noted that over the first nine months of this year, Tajik Railways has purchased 32 new cargo cars and 26 passenger carriages, which is not enough to meet its requirements.
Besides, over the first three quarters of 2007, they have repaired 20 passenger carriages and repairs to other 18 passenger carriages will have been completed by the end of October.
Over the report period, Tajik Railways has carried 563,200 passengers and shipped more than 10.6 million tons of cargoes, which 609,000 tons more than in the same period of last year.
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.
