Dushanbe, 24.08.2016 / NIAT «Khovar» /. This morning at six o’clock sharp the first train from the Central Railway Station of Dushanbe started to run on the route Dushanbe — Qurghonteppa –Kulob led by the Founder of Peace and National Unity — the Leader of the Nation, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon, and representatives of intelligentsia, various spheres of social life, youth and activists.

Lying of the railway has been launched with the participation of the Head of State and its estimated cost is more than 165 mln Somoni. The project of the railroad included the construction of three tunnels with a total length of 3543 m. The length of the longest tunnel was 2209 m, construction of which requires high professional skills, knowledge and experience of expertsin mountainous terrain. Simultaneously, 8 bridges with a total length of 683.2 m were constructed within the Project.

If you look at the economic importance and advantages of the project, we can say that the length of the former railway Dushanbe-Qurghonteppa, which crossed the border was432 km, and as a result of the construction of tunnels and bridges it was possible to reduce the route length of 313 km and the length of the current way is only 119 km.

Transportation of 1 ton of cargo by railway Dushanbe-Kulob-Qurghonteppa decreased by almost 120 somoni, earlier it was 160 somoni, and now through the new route, it shall cost only 35-40 somoni.

According to experts, the annual economic benefit of the railway Dushanbe-Qurghonteppa reaches 46 million Somoni that will allow to coverall the costs of the installation of the new railway line within 10 years.

The Head of State at the opening of the first railway tunnel of the country — Hulbuk with the length of 2209 m, noted that the efforts of the Government aimed to apply successful policy on overcoming the communication deadlock for the sake of social development and welfare of population. According to the State Unitary Enterprise «Tajik Railways», for the construction of 41 km of the railway in total 450 million Somoni was spent, including 359 million for construction work, 43 million 602 thousand for purchase of modern and powerful machines. Groundwork of 41 km road’sfoundation, strengthening of upper layer, excavation of 12 million 374 m3 clay, blasting of 4 million 230 thousand m3 and the construction of 20 km of lines of electricity, 110 trenches for water flow, 4 checkpoints and 2 modern station buildings, generally carried out with the high quality and meets all modern standards of construction of railroads and infrastructure.

The President of Tajikistan, the Leader of the Nation, Emomali Rahmon, during the journey along the route of the railway Dushanbe — Kulob — Qurghonteppa expressed that “Today for the people of Tajikistan, including the hard-working residents of Khatlon province is an unforgettable historical day, because one of our very important socio-economic projects was implemented on the eve of our sacred national holiday, the 25thAnniversary of the State Independence of Tajikistan”.