DUSHANBE, December 5, 2012, Asia-Plus — A process of acceptance of two diesel locomotives took place at Kazakhstan’s locomotive-building plant on December 4.
According to Tajik Railways, the locomotives are expected to arrive in Dushanbe in ten days.
We will recall that Kazakhstan agreed to sell six locomotives to Tajikistan, its first-ever export of railway engines, last year.
Tajikistan’s state railway company, Rohi Ohani Tojikiston (Tajik Railways), signed the contract with Kazakh locomotive producer, Kurastyru Zauyty, here in November 2011.
The contract is the first deal for the sale of Kazakh diesel locomotives abroad. Signing of the export contract concluded negotiations that began in early September last year following presentations by the Kazakh locomotive manufacturer at the 3rd International Railway Salon Expo at a venue near Moscow.
Under the contract, the first two locomotives assembled in Kazakhstan under a license of General Electric Company, an American multinational conglomerate corporation, arrived in Tajikistan in February 2012.
Tajikistan’s rolling-stock now includes more than 2,000 cargo cars, 424 passenger carriages and 55 diesel locomotives.
The total length of rails in Tajikistan is reportedly more than 950 kilometers; of that, 680 kilometers are the main railways. At present Tajik Railways offers two routes to the Russian Federation (Dushanbe-Moscow and Kulob-Moscow) and two domestic routes (Dushanbe-Konibodom and Dushanbe-Pakhtaobod). The Khujand-Saratov (Russia) route has been suspended due to low passenger traffic.
