DUSHANBE, November 23, 2011, Asia-Plus — The State Unitary Enterprise “Rohi Ohani Tojikiston” (Tajik Railways) has not yet received a detailed information from O’zbekiston Temir Yollari (Uzbekistan’s state railway company) about the accident on the railroad in southern and the extent of damage caused to the railway bridge on the Ghalaba-Amuzang stage, the Tajik Railways deputy chairman Vladimir Sobkalov told Asia-Plus Wednesday afternoon.
“The bridge is currently cordoned by Uzbek law enforcement officers and nobody is allowed to come up to it,” said Sobkalov, “Therefore, we even do not know the cause of the bridge damage.”
“Besides, we do not know what the difficulty for rehabilitation of the damaged bridge is,” noted Tajik official, “Uzbekistan’s state railway company could rehabilitate this small bridge during a day.”
Sobkalov stressed that they had offered their assistance to rehabilitate the bridge as long ago as November 17. “However, the Uzbek side has not yet responded to our proposal,” he said.
According to him, the Dushanbe railway station is currently receiving passenger trains bound for the south of the country. “But the Dushanbe railway station is not able to receive the Khatlon-bound freight cars and organize further delivery of cargo into Khatlon,” said the Tajik Railways deputy chairman. “Moreover, only shippers, who are outside Tajikistan, have the right of changing transition points. We informed our Uzbek colleagues of these problems on November 22.”
According to data from O’zbekiston Temir Yollari, more than 270 freight cars bound for Tajik province of Khatlon are being stranded in Uzbek territory, impeding work of Uzbek railway authorities.
We will recall that the Uzbek state newspaper,
Pravda Vostoka
(Truth of the East), reported that the explosion occurred on the train track between the Uzbek towns of Ghalaba and Amuzang overnight on November 16-17. The newspaper described the incident as a terrorist act.
The railway bridge in Uzbek territory was damaged that caused rail traffic between Termez in Uzbekistan and the Tajik city of Qurgon Teppa to be shut down.
Tajik Railways has written to O’zbekiston Temir Yollari proposing a joint investigation and asking for detailed information about the accident. The Uzbek state railway company has not yet responded.
