DUSHANBE, November 4, 2011, Asia-Plus — The rail route Dushanbe to the northern city of Konibodom has been temporarily resumed in connection with the ongoing autumn conscription campaign, according to Tajik Railways.
The source says the service was resumed on October 5 and the route will remain operational till the end of November; this service is operated once a week.
Current tickets for the Dushanbe-Konibodom route are 102 somoni for day coach, 127 somoni for reserved seats and 192 somoni for compartment.
If the service remains in demand during winter period and fillability of the train makes at least 45-50 percent, the Dushanbe-Konibodom route will remain operational, the source added.
We will recall that Tajik railroad company, Rohi Ohani Tojikiston (Tajik Railways), suspended trains running from Dushanbe to the northern city of Konibodom in March 2011. A train service between Dushanbe and Konibodom was reportedly suspended due to a sharp decrease in passenger traffic.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on March 14, 2011 that Usmon Qalandrov, deputy head of Tajik Railways, said the railroad company proposed the construction of a Dushanbe-Tursunzoda-Khujand rail line which would be 260 kilometers long and almost four times shorter than the present route to Khujand.
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).
