High-speed rail in Uzbekistan
The country currently has two interoperated lines:
- Tashkent–Samarkand high-speed rail line, opened 2011 using HSR capable trains while upgrading taking over 2.5 hours, in 2013 the 344 km route full commercial speed taking 2 hours and 8 minutes. Uzbekistan Railways management has raised the possibility of building a dedicated electrified line from Tashkent to Samarkand, shortening the journey to 1 hour and 20 minutes.[3]
- Samarkand-Bukhara high-speed rail line, opened Aug 2016, extension of the first line, 256 km taking 1 hour 12 minutes, or from Tashkent 3 hours and 20 minutes.[4]
- Samarkand-Qarshi high-speed rail line, a 141 km long extension to Qarshi started operation on August 22, 2015, though at lower speed of 160 km/h (100 mph).[5]
By 2018, the high speed rail was operating beyond capacity, and tickets had to be booked months in advance.[6] To combat this issue, the railway awarded a $62 million contract to Talgo to purchase an additional two 250 km/h (155 mph) tilting trains due to enter service in 2021, to join the other four currently in service; the new contract also requests extra coaches to expand the current nine-car trains to 11 cars each.[7]
Services from Tashkent to
In January 2021, the Kazakh Prime Minister Asqar Mamin announced plans to extend the line in Tashkent across the border to Shymkent and Turkestan.[10][11]
In April 2022, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank provided a $108 million loan to Uzbekistan for electrification of the 465km line between Bukhara and Khiva, and high-speed trainsets are intended to eventually travel between Tashkent and Khiva.[12] The current unelectrified line already has a design speed of 250 km/h (155 mph), and running the Afrosiyob trainsets will reduce travel time from six hours to two hours.[13] In November 2022, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced that high-speed service to Khiva will be launched in 2024, and announced the launch of construction on an electrified high-speed rail extension to Nukus, decreasing travel times between Tashkent and Nukus from 16 hours to 7 hours.[14]
References
- ^ "Talgo 250 reaches Bukhara".
- ^ "Поездка в Самарканд на поезде Afrosiyob теперь занимает два часа" (in Russian). Gazeta.uz. 2013-02-12.
- ^ "Uzbekistan plans to build new high-speed railway to Samarkand". AzerNews.az. 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- ^ "Exploring Uzbekistan by bullet train". The Independent. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- ^ "Запущена еще одна высокоскоростная линия Ташкент–Карши: путь займет всего 3 часа". Podrobno.uz (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-02-11.
- ^ "Old trains to be repaired in Uzbekistan to solve problem with lack of tickets". AzerNews.az. 2018-08-20. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- ^ "Uzbekistan Railways orders two Talgo 250 tilting trains". International Railway Journal. 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- ^ "New Almaty-Tashkent passenger train started routing".
- ^ "New passenger train route connects China, Kazakhstan - Xinhua | English.news.cn". Archived from the original on June 8, 2017.
- ^ "Ташкент и Туркестан свяжет высокоскоростная ж/д магистраль". Газета.uz (in Russian). 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
- ^ Hashimova, Umida. "What a New High-Speed Railway Tells Us About Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan Relations". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
- ^ "Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank provides $108 million loan to Uzbekistan for railway line electrification". akipress.com. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
- ^ adbheadhoncho (2021-12-14). "Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Corridor 2 (Bukhara-Miskin-Urgench-Khiva) Railway Electrification Project". Asian Development Bank. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
- ^ "High-speed trains to Nukus to be launched in Uzbekistan". m.akipress.com. Retrieved 2023-04-01.