Railway construction through Afghanistan to play important role for Uzbekistan's development - deputy minister

BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 27. The planned construction of the railway through Afghanistan and the railway’s electrification will play an important role for development of Uzbekistan, the country's Deputy Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan Zhasurbek Choriyev said, Trend reports. Choriyev made the remark at the "Afghanistan: security and economic development" international conference, held in Tashkent on July 25-26 at the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. According to him, Central Asia, which has been connecting the largest international markets through the Great Silk Road since ancient times, is located in an important geo-strategic position. "Modern Afghanistan has an important place in the prospective development of regional transport corridors, it can and should become a link between the countries of Central and South Asia," the deputy minister noted. “In this direction, the plans for the construction of the Termez-Kabul-Mazar-i-Sharif-Peshawar railway are of great importance, where jointly Uzbek, Afghan and Pakistani specialists conducted a preliminary study of the project, prepared calculations and proposals for laying the route,” he also said. “This new railway will connect eight settlements of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan and will become the main transport logistics highway for the region.” Choriyev stressed that in the direction of the new railway line, projects are being implemented for laying high-voltage power lines on Surkhan-Puli-Khumri route. During the international conference, the details of laying power lines are presented by the power engineers of Uzbekistan. "Parallel construction and the availability of power transmission lines will save significant financial resources at the stage of construction and further operation of the electrified railway. Electric traction in high-mountain areas has huge advantages over diesel locomotive," he added. Totally, it’s planned to build 785 km of power supply lines, and 790 km of communication lines for the railway.