DUSHANBE, August 6, 2010, Asia-Plus - Uzbekistan has suspended rail cargo traffic to Tajikistan’s southern Khatlon province.

Andrey Tropin, the head of the shipment department at Tajik Railways, told Asia-Plus today that 241 freight cars bound for Khatlon province have been stranded on Uzbek territory.

“We have repeatedly applied to our Uzbek colleagues, asking to clarify the reason for holdup of freight cars bound for Khatlon; however, we have not yet received reply,” said the official with Tajik state rail company, “To find out the solution to the problem, we have also applied the embassies of Uzbekistan, Iran, China, and Russia.”

In all, 1,097 Tajikistan-bound freight cars are still being held up in Uzbekistan, Tropin added.

We will recall that the Uzbek state railroad company sent a letter to Tajik authorities in June  this year, notifying them that it wants to close a 44-kilometer stretch of railroad, which runs from the Uzbek city of Termez to the Tajik southern Khatlon province.

Uzbek officials said the route was not economically viable and their country could no longer afford to maintain it.  However, Tajik authorities prefer to keep this stretch open and even agreed to assume responsibility for its maintenance.