Sogdiana Trans (a subsidiary of Uzbekistan Railways) and the Afghan Railway Authority signed an agreement on February 12 to continue operating the Hairaton-Mazar-i-Sharif railway, Uzbekistan Railways reported after the ongoing negotiations in Termez.
As per the new agreement, Sogdiana Trans will operate on this section for another two years.
Meanwhile, the parties also agreed to accelerate the restoration of goods delivery to the Mazar-i-Sharif terminal station and to train specialists from the Afghan Railway Authority.
Earlier it was reported that the talks began on February 8. On February 10, the parties signed an MoM onto continue operation of the railway, and on the same day, the delivery of freight cars to Afghanistan, which had been suspended since February 1, was resumed, with 714 wagons delivered between February 10-11.
In December, the Afghan news publication of TOLOnews reported that the Kazakh company Mansour Fatih had been awarded a contract to service the Hairatan-Mazar-i-Sharif railway section, Uzbekistan denied this information, saying that negotiations were still underway.
Sogdiana Trans was established in December 2011 to operate and maintain the Hairatan-Mazar-i-Sharif railway line. Uzbekistan Railways completed the construction of a 75 km long line at a cost of $129 million in November 2010.
Almost half of Afghanistan's imports, as well as a significant part of humanitarian cargo, pass through the Hairatan station.
