DUSHANBE, February 13, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik Railways has raised the passenger fares on long-distance trains by more than 20 percent.

According to Tajik Railways, rates went into effect February 9 on rail route from Dushanbe to Moscow.  The source says a reserved ticket in carriage class on the Dushanbe-Moscow train, previously 652.73 somoni, now costs 793 somoni.  A ticket for travel in a compartment on this route is now 1,003 somoni; it had been 860.39 somoni.

“The ticket price rise has resulted, first of all, from coefficient of passage through Russian railway network,” the source said, noting that the other reason for the price hike is a 20-22% increase in fees for transit through Uzbek territory.

We will recall that the passenger fares on the rail route from Khujand to Saratov (Russia) rose some 30 percent in January, reaching 580 somoni for reserved seat and 780 somoni for travel in compartment.