DUSHANBE, July 21, 2015, Asia-Plus — Tajik Railways (Tajik state-run railway company) has asked the Uzbek railroad company to resume traffic along the Termez (Uzbekistan) to Qurghon Teppa (Tajikistan) railway.
The first deputy head of Tajik Railways, Bahrom Shodiyev, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 21 that the Tajik side plans to submit the proposal on resumption of traffic along the Termez to Qurghon Teppa railway at the next meeting of Tajik Tajik-Uzbek commission for trade and economic cooperation.
According to him, the proposal has already been submitted for consideration to the Government of Tajikistan.
We will recall that rail traffic stoppages resulting in delays of cargo supplies to Tajikistan began in Uzbekistan in November, 2009. In January, 2010, the Uzbek railroad company disallowed under various pretexts the passage of around 150 railcars bound for Tajikistan, and by February the number rose to 400. Tajik premier”s conversation with his Uzbek counterpart helped clear the way for 178 of the railcars stuck in Uzbekistan, but the overall situation with the transit between the two countries remained essentially the same. No railcars heading for Tajikistan”s southern Khatlon province got the green light in early March – early May 2010, and the total volume of freight transit via the Tajik railroad dropped by 40% over the first half of 2010. There is firm belief in Dushanbe that the rail blockade imposed by Tashkent on Tajikistan came as a response to the intensification of construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP). The conflict between the two countries saw escalation in November, 2011 following a blast at the Galaba-Amu Zang stretch of the Termez to Qurghon Teppa railroad in southern Uzbekistan, not far from the Tajik and Afghan borders. The incident was promptly described as a terrorist attack by the Uzbek media and Uzbekistan suspended the Galaba-Amu Zang traffic in its wake, effectively subjecting Tajikistan”s southern Khatlon province to a transit blockade. By the end of November, the number of railcars which were bound for Khatlon but got stuck in Uzbekistan reached 270. The Uzbek railroad company suggested redirecting them to Dushanbe, from where they could proceed to Tajikistan”s south, but Tajikistan rejected the plan as excessively costly. In the process, Tajik experts actually contested the version by which the blast had been a terrorist act and expressed a view that, citing the incident, Tashkent seized the opportunity to put Dushanbe under pressure. Tajik railroad officials said Uzbekistan”s railroad company could easily restore the bridge damaged by the blast within 24 hours and stressed that Uzbekistan brushed off the Tajik offer of help in doing so.
In the spring 2012, Uzbekistan began to dismantle the Termez to Qurghon Teppa railroad without sending any notification to the Tajik side.
