DUSHANBE, November 16, 2015, Asia-Plus — Turkmen national news agency TDH reports that Turkmenistan has completed construction of its 88-kilometer section (Atamurat-Ymamnazar-Akina) of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway.
We will recall that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for construction of the rail link connecting the three countries was signed during a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan that took place in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on March 20, 2013 on the sidelines of the International Navrouz Celebrations.
The 400-kilometer railroad is expected to connect the Afghan town of Akina-Andkhoy to Atamurat-Ymamnazar in Turkmenistan and Panj in Tajikistan.
Turkmenistan, which hosted a groundbreaking ceremony in June 2013 including presidents of all three countries, promised to finance its own 88-kilometer section, plus a 35-kilometer link to the northern Afghan town of Andkhoy.
The railway is supposed to diversify trade routes in one of the least-connected parts of Central Asia.
Tajikistan has hoped the 400-kilometer railway would help it bypass Uzbekistan, through which all its Soviet-era rails pass.
