Railways in Turkmenistan

Ministry of Railways Turkmenistan HQ in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Ashgabat Railway Station constructed in 1888, Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan has 4,980 km (3,094 mi) of railways (37th largest in the world). The railway operator is the state owned company Türkmendemirýollary (Turkmen Railways). The company belongs to the Ministry of Railways of Turkmenistan.

National and International railways system

Turkmenistan Railways Diesel locomotive CKD9A

As of 2014 Turkmenistan had 4,980 km (3,094 mi) of rail line, mostly close to the northern and southern borders. The Tejen–Serakhs–Mashhad railway, built in 1996 by Turkmenistan and Iran, links Central Asian, Russian, and European rail systems with South Asia and the Persian Gulf. In February 2006, the final construction phase began on the Trans-Karakum Railway, a direct link between Ashgabat and Daşoguz that halves travel time between the southern and northern parts of the country.

Bereket Railway Station in (Kazandjik) is an important crossroad of the Trans-Caspian railway and North-South Transnational Railway Corridor.

The Türkmenabat-Ashgabat-Bereket-Türkmenbaşy route is partly double-tracked; the rest of the network is single-track. There is no electrification.[1]

The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway link is a part of the North-South Transnational Corridor and is a 677 km (421 mi) long single-tracked railway line connecting Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan with Iran and the Persian Gulf. It links Uzen in Kazakhstan with Bereket - Etrek in Turkmenistan and end at Gorgan in Iran's Golestan province. In Iran, the railway will be linked to national network making its way to the ports of the Persian Gulf.[2]

The project is estimated to cost $620m which is being jointly funded by the governments of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan Iran and Asian Development Bank.[3] The railway link has been inaugurated in May 2013.[4]

Bereket Railway Station in (Kazandzhik) is strategically important railways intersection on the Trans-Caspian Railway (links Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and eastern Kazakhstan and North-South Transnational Railway (links Russia-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Persian Gulf). The city has a large locomotive repair depot and a modern station.

Links to Afghanistan

The USSR built a railway across the Afghan border to Towraghondi although services have been very limited. In 2013, work began on a second link, from Atamyrat to Imamnazar (on the border), with plans to build a further 38 km extension into Afghanistan, as far as Aqina and Andkhvoy; from there railways might be built to Sherkhan Bandar and Tajikistan.[5]

Rolling stock

In 2013, 154 passenger coaches were ordered from CSR;[6] CSR has previously supplied locomotives.[7]

See also

References

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