Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan railway to stretch to Iran
By Vusala Abbasova
The Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan railway, a regional project which will take its root in Tajikistan, will connect the Central Asian nation to Iranian seaports through Turkmenistan and Afghanistan via two routes.
The railway route will stretch to Iran, the Tajikistan Transport Ministry said.
The TAT railway is planned to be put into operation by 2018. To date the Turkmen section of the route is under implementation, while Tajik section is seeking funding for its feasibility study.
Negotiations are underway with the Asian Development Bank on financing the development of feasibility study for the Tajik section.
The 400-kilometer long TAT railway project, the implementation of which began in early June, 2013, enjoys significant importance in terms of the strategic, political and economic interests of all participating countries.
The project targets to expand regional infrastructures, connect landlocked countries with seaways, and eventually link Eurasian and Southeast Asian markets.
Cargo transit has become an important source of exports of services and foreign exchange revenues as well as impacted on the creation of more jobs. Future prospects are largely related to the proper adaptation of the railway network and its services to the capacities of new transit and export-import cargo. Thus, the creation of transport corridors implementing intermodal transportations has gained particular importance.
This route will open a new corridor between Central Asia and world markets through sea ports on the coast of the Indian Ocean. it will shorten twice the way to the Baltic sea coast via Russia.
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