DUSHANBE, July 21, 2015, Asia-Plus — The total volume of rail freight shipments has reportedly dropped in Tajikistan by almost 12 percent over the first half of 2015.
“Over the first six months of this year, more than 2.8 million tons of cargo have been shipped by rail transportation, which was 364,000 tons fewer than in the same period last year,” the first deputy head of Tajik Railways (Tajik state-run railway company), Bahrom Shodiyev, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 21.
According to him, the total volume of freight transit via the Tajik railroad has dropped by 33.6 percent over the same six-month period — from 731,000 tons n January-June 2014 to 486,000 tons in January-June 2015.
Meanwhile, rail passenger traffic has dropped by 5 percent over the report period. In January-June this year, Tajik Railways has carried 198,000 passengers, 10,000 passengers fewer than in the same period last year.
At present Tajik Railways reportedly offers two routes to the Russian Federation (Dushanbe-Moscow, and Khujand-Moscow) and two domestic routes (Dushanbe-Pakhtaobod and Qurghon Teppa-Kulob).
Tajikistan’s rolling-stock includes 2,072 cargo cars, 441 passenger carriages and 56 diesel locomotives.
The total length of rails in Tajikistan is about 1000 kilometers; of that, 680 kilometers are the main railways. At present there are 31 railway stations in the republic.
