Turkmendemirýollary (Turkmen Railways) is launching routes along major transit corridors in order to organise international freight traffic on schedule.
The project plans to expand its geographical coverage from neighbouring countries to Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan along the Iran-Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan and Georgia-Azerbaijan-Caspian Sea-Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan routes, as well as from Russia to the Persian Gulf countries and India.
Regular trains running on a clear schedule will optimise logistics and reduce delivery times in the North-South and East-West directions. According to preliminary projections, the new service is capable of taking up to 90% of cargo volume from alternative delivery routes such as road transport in the future.
Experts told Daryo that the country is becoming a transport hub thanks to the 2014 launch of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, the longest part of which - 700km - passes through Turkmenistan.
Ashgabat also expects to reach the markets of China, and from there the Asia-Pacific region, through the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway. Turkmenistan has already built railway tracks to Afghanistan's borders and has taken on the task of laying rails to the Afghan cities of Aqina and Herat.
Turkmenistan last year became an official participant in the Agreement on the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC).
Eziz Boyarov
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