Russian Railways are ready to promote the electrification of the railway infrastructure of Turkmenistan in the key direction from Turkmenbashi to Turkmenabat. Vyacheslav Pavlovsky, Deputy Director General of Russian Railways, who oversees international projects, told reporters about this, TASS reported on Saturday.

Pavlovsky also said that the parties agreed on the reconstruction of the carriage repair plant in Gyzylarbat.

He recalled that the head of Russian Railways OJSC Oleg Belozerov and chairman of the Turkmendemiryollary (Turkmen Railways) agency Azat Atamuradov had previously signed a cooperation development program for 2023-2025.

“As part of the implementation of this document, we are jointly developing container service along the eastern route of the North-South ITC. At the end of January 2024, the movement of container trains through the Turkmen-Iranian border crossing Akyayla - Inche-Burun was opened on a permanent basis,” Pavlovsky added. He noted that it has already been possible to achieve the figure of four container trains per month, and that in the future the company aims to significantly increase these volumes.

According to Pavlovsky, Russian Railways closely cooperates with the Turkmen side on the development of human resources: a training program for Turkmen railway workers has been prepared at the Russian Railways Corporate University. “In addition to the training program, it is planned for Turkmen colleagues to visit railway transport facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and it is also possible for teachers of the Corporate University to travel to Turkmenistan,” Pavlovsky said.

On April 15-19, the 38th meeting of the Council of Managers and Responsible Representatives of Railway Transport of the Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD) member states was held in Ashgabat. A delegation from Russian Railways also took part in the meeting.

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