Tag Archives: rail

Azerbaijan to complete railway to Turkey

JAN. 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The 840km Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway link between the Caspian Sea and central Turkey will be completed in the next two months, Turkish energy minister Ahmet Arslan told media. The route is seen as a vital piece of infrastructure linking Europe and China. Mr Arslan said is would double the cargo capacity between Turkey and the Caspian Sea and become an important part of China’s so called “One Belt, One Road” trade project.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Diplomatic spat brews over rail link between Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

JAN. 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s foreign minister issued a statement complaining about a press release by Tajikistan which said that it wanted to build a railway link to Russia that bypassed Turkmenistan and instead traversed Uzbekistan. The Turkmen statement said that Tajikistan’s press release had been unethical. Uzbek-Tajik relations have improved markedly since the death in September of former Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov. The Turkmen diplomatic note is a reminder the ties between Central Asian countries are often strained and fractured.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Turkmenistan and Afghanistan open railway

NOV. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan and Afghanistan opened a long awaited rail link which should ease trade, especially shipments of refined fuel. Turkmenistan’s economy relies of gas sales, mainly to China, but it has been looking to diversity into refined fuel and electricity exports and it sees Afghanistan as a potentially important market. It has built a 540,000 tonne oil product terminal at the Ymemnazar customs point on the border with Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Turkmenistan completes railway construction

OCT. 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s foreign ministry said that construction work at a railway network connecting Atamyrat-Imamnazar to Akina in Afghanistan was complete. The two countries had started building the 88km railway connection in mid-2013. Altcom, a Ukrainian company, built two of the railway’s bridges. Turkmenistan and Afghanistan have tried to improve diplomatic ties to jointly combat Islamic extremists who threaten Turkmenistan’s southern border.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)

InfiNet to launch WiFi in Kazakh trains

OCT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Malta-based Russian telecoms service company InfiNet Wireless said it agreed a deal with Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway operator, to launch an onboard wireless service in Kazakhstan. InfiNet has already launched a pilot project on the segment between Astana and Borovoye, in the north of the country.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Turkmen railways to cut 30% work-force

SEPT. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s ministry of railway transport will cut 30% of its work- force by the end of the year, opposition news outlet Alternative News of Turkmenistan (ANT) reported. Sources in Ashgabat reported the sacking of 15 workers in mid-September. ANT has previously reported on government job cuts and unpaid salaries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Georgian PM visits Azerbaijan

SEPT. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili paid an official visit to Azerbaijan to discuss partnership in joint infrastructure projects with President Ilham Aliyev. Mr Kvirikashvili was accompanied by energy minister Kakha Kaladze and deputy foreign minister Gigi Gigiadze. The parties discussed the latest developments in the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the Southern Gas Corridor pipeline network.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)

Tajikistan to open railway to the south

DUSHANBE, JULY 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan has finished building a new railway connecting the capital city with the south, that avoids the headache of passing through Uzbekistan.

The Dushanbe- Kurgan Tyube-Kulob route effectively lifts its southern region out of economic isolation and removes Uzbekistan’s ability to close the route at will and use it as a bargaining tool. The Soviet Union had built Tajikistan’s railway through parts of Uzbekistan to avoid the more challenging Pamiri terrain.

Usmon Kalandarov, deputy director of the Tajik Railways company, said that the railway, which will be opened on Aug. 24, was built with the financial support of Chinese Eximbank.

“The construction of five bridges and three tunnels on this road has been financed by the Chinese bank Eximbank with a loan of 72m somoni ($9.2m),” he said at a press conference.

In 2011, in retaliation for plans to build a dam that would divert water away from its cotton crops, Uzbekistan cut the original railway line. Other than a dangerous and unreliable single road that weaved its way through the Pamir mountains, this effectively cut off the south of the country.

Sardor, a 52-years-old local trader, told The Conway Bulletin correspondent in Dushanbe that he has been waiting for the railway to be finished.

“I bring fruits and vegetables from southern towns to Dushanbe and vice-versa. It is inefficient for me to use trucks, they are expensive and take a long time,” Sardor said as he sold melons. “I think the new railway will be good for me because I will pay less to transport goods, which will not have to go through Uzbekistan and be in trouble like before.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)

Uzbekistan to launch tunnel

JUNE 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek government said it will launch the Angren-Pap railway service from July, opening the longest tunnel in Central Asia. The project, completed in the past few months, cost $1.6b and was partly funded by Chinese and World Bank loans. Uzbek President Islam Karimov and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping inaugurated the new tunnel during a ceremony in Tashkent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

International Bank of Azerbaijan issues loan to Iran

JUNE 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – International Bank of Azerbaijan, the country’s largest lender, will issue a $500m loan to Iran for the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway section, part of a rail link from Qazvin to Astara, around the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. The total cost of the Rasht-Astara segment is projected to be $1.1b. The countries of the South Caucasus have been quick to engage Iran in business since sanctions were lifted earlier this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)