KHUJAND, May 21, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Number of labor migrants from the Sughd province traveling to Russia by rail has considerably decreased, according to the railway station Khujand.

However they still keep twice-weekly service – on Thursdays and Saturdays, therefore trains are almost empty.  “Thus, occupancy of the train that departed for Samara on May 16 reached 74 percent while occupancy the train that departed on May 21 reached only 34 percent,” said the source, “The compartment cars are pretty empty.”

He added that passenger fares had been raised in recent months.  The ticket for seat in a second-class sleeping car has risen from 530 somoni in March to 670 somoni.

Decrease in passenger traffic from Khujand to Samara is attributed to the economic crisis that hit the Russian Federation.  As a result of the crisis many labor migrants from Sughd have lost their jobs in Russia.  Some labor migrants are continuing to return home.  Thus, 230 people arrived here from Saratov by train on May 20.  In the meantime, the train capacity is 640 passengers.