DUSHANBE, October 20, 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan will raise the issue of a railroad dispute with Uzbekistan at the 53rd session of the Railway Transport Council (RTC) of rail companies from the CIS and Baltic nations that opened in Vilnius, Lithuania on October 20, Usmon Qalandarov, the deputy head of Tajik Railways, told reporters in Dushanbe on Wednesday.
Noting that the RTC sessions are held twice a year, Qalandarov said Tajik Railways had wanted to bring the issue to RTC’s attention at the previous session already but Uzbekistan’s representative had not attended that session. “This time, he will attend the session and this issue will be raised,” Tajik rail company official noted.
According to him, more than 1,000 freight cars bound for Tajikistan are currently held up on Uzbek territory. Touching upon the issue of freight cars carrying cargo for Roghun’s construction, Qalandarov said, “This issue has not yet been solved.”
He added that Tajik Railways has received 373 claims for a total amount of 433,000 U.S. dollars from consignees over loss of cargo on Uzbek territory to this day. “A claim meeting of rail companies from the CIS and Baltic nations will take place in Yerevan, Armenia soon and the Tajik side will file claims both for loss of cargo and cargo time limitation,” Qalandarov said.
We will recall that the Tajik government formally asked the OSCE in early October to send a fact-finding mission to look into a railroad dispute between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Tajikistan has previously sought help from Iran and Kazakhstan in dealing with Uzbekistan about the rail problem.
In the meantime, Itar-Tass reports the RTC session in Vilnius will discuss the coordination of passenger and freight transportation by rail along international routes.
Apart from plenary meetings, there will be conferences of expert working groups on current problems of railway transportation. Those present at the session are also to discuss practical matters, such as specifically, management, accounting and mutual settlement in multilateral use of freight cars, and the creation of a technical standard for broad gauge (1,520 mm).
Established in 1992, the RTC comprises the railroad administrations of CIS nations and the Baltics, and those of Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia, and Finland as associated members. The state-run rail companies of Lithuania and Estonia are Council members with a deliberative voice.
