JULY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Roughly 50 people were injured when a freight train and a passenger train collided at Almaty’s main railway station, media reported. Of the injured, five were taken to hospital. An efficient rail infrastructure is essential in Kazakhstan. The government has pledged millions to modernise the network.
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)
JUNE 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Underlining increased investment in its transport infrastructure, a (relatively) high-speed train made its inaugural journey across Kazakhstan from Almaty to Atyrau on the Caspian Sea coast. The 2,600km journey, the longest in Kazakhstan, took 35 hours 30 minutes, down from 49 hours.
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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)
JUNE 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan started construction on a new rail link that should boost trade between the three neighbours, media reported. The 400km route will run from Panj on the Tajik-Afghan border, across northern Afghanistan to Atamyrat in central Turkmenistan and cost $1.5b to build.
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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)
MAY 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, opened a rail link that bypasses the Soviet network in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is often regarded as an awkward neighbour because of its unilateral tendencies. The rail link is designed to link up with Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 135, published on May 20 2013)
MARCH 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The leaders of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan signed a deal in Ashgabat to build a 400km extension to link up their railway networks, media reported. The deal marks another step to integrating Afghanistan into the regional economy. Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov asked international lenders to help pay the $2b cost of the railway.
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(News report from Issue No. 128, published on March 22 2013)
FEB. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek authorities have unveiled a plan to build a 130km railway line over a mountain pass between Tashkent and their cities in the Ferghana Valley that will cut out the Soviet-built route through Tajikistan, media reported. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have an increasingly fractious relationship.
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(News report from Issue No. 124, published on Feb. 15 2013)
MAY 24 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government delayed plans to list its national railway company on the London Stock Exchange because of poor market conditions. Concerns over the Eurozone and a disappointing stock market debut for Facebook have unnerved investors. Georgian PM Nika Gilauri said the government still planned to list the railway company when the market improves.
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(News report from Issue No. 089, published on May 25 2012)
FEB. 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Germany, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed around 50 deals worth €3b with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. One of the biggest deals was for German engineering company Siemens to upgrade Kazakhstan’s railways. Germany will also have access to rare metals in Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
JAN. 13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Languishing on the Tajik-Uzbek border are dozens of railway wagons laden with food, fuel and building material bound for Tajikistan. There are plenty of potential flashpoints in Central Asia, but this backlog of railway wagons is potentially one of the most dangerous.
The Tajik authorities say that the Uzbeks are deliberately stopping the wagons from completing their journey and that this threatens to trigger a famine.
The Uzbeks counter that an important bridge which crosses the border has been washed away and it is not possible for the wagons to enter Tajikistan.
This bickering is not new. Relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been strained for most of the region’s 20 year post-Soviet history. At the source of the tension is the countries’ interlinked water-energy dynamic. While the Tajik Pamir Mountains provide vital water for Uzbek agriculture and industry, Uzbekistan provides power and transport links for Tajikistan.
But recently, to the frustration of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan (with Iranian help) has been building new dams across a major river.
The dams change the relationship between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. They will reduce Tajikistan’s reliance on Uzbekistan for its power and, importantly, also increase its control of water supply to downstream Uzbekistan.
There are other issues to add to this combustible mix including US transport contracts and personal animosity between the countries’ leaders. All this make the railway wagons on the Uzbek-Tajik border an issue to watch.
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(News report from Issue No. 72, published on Jan. 13 2012)
AUG. 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has placed an order worth $395m for new trains from China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp, AFP news agency quoted a press release as saying. This year relations between Turkmenistan and China have grown significantly. China has replaced Russia as Turkmenistan’s biggest gas customer.
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(News report from Issue No. 52, published on Aug. 10 2011)