KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN/TRAIN First tourist train links Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan after 2010 deadly ethnic clashes

Record ID: 143498

  • Title: KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN/TRAIN First tourist train links Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan after 2010 deadly ethnic clashes
  • Date: 18th August 2015
  • Summary: BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) BISHKEK 2 TRAIN STATION ENTRANCE SIGN READING (Russian): 'BISHKEK 2 TRAIN STATION' BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (AUGUST 17, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLE ON PLATFORM, TRAIN ARRIVING PEOPLE WAITING FOR TRAIN, HOLDING AIR-BALLOONS VARIOUS OF TRAIN ARRIVING AT STATION UZBEKISTAN NATIONAL EMBLEM ON TRAIN, SIGN READING (Russian): 'TASHKENT - RYBACHYE' PEO
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kyrgyzstan
  • Country: Kyrgyzstan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA86M2TZ16GT6XU28C8DB2YFFO4
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Uzbekistan tourists had a chance to travel to the Kyrgyz resort area of lake Issyk-Kul as the countries restored train communication for the first time after deadly ethnic clashes in 2010.
    Bishkek residents gathered at the platform expecting to greet friends and relatives from the neighbouring country arriving on board the 'Tashkent - Rybachye' train pulling into the station.
    Tatyana Ponamaryova, an entrepreneur from Tashkent, said she enjoyed the first journey on this route regardless of several hours of formal procedures on the border.
    "First, service inside carriages - the guys work very well, they are very considerate, very polite. The carriage itself is very comfortable. The seats are soft, the air conditioner (works) in the evening and in the day time. Yesterday we had a very long stop and it was hot - there were some customs revisions - but due to the air conditioners we departed in absolute convenience," she said.
    The rail track largely runs through the territory of Kazakhstan and the train has to cross state borders several times.
    Another Uzbekistan resident, Mukhabat Khalipova, said she travelled with convenience.
    "We did not know that everything is organised so well. We are very happy. Our countries have always been friends. We came to the destination comfortably by train. Thanks a lot to the attendants and the organisers of this journey," she said, standing by the door of the train.
    The head of Kyrgyzstan's Railroad Passenger Transporting Department, Esenbek Ibraimov, said the train will operate throughout the tourist season.
    "The train is set to run in 2016 since May till September. This is a tourist train, it is meant for the summer period. So that our Uzbek friends could have a vocation at our pearl Lake Issyk-Kul," he said, adding that train communication on this route stopped after 2009, due to the conflict in 2010.
    Violence has been endemic across Uzbekistan's city of Ferghana some 12 miles off Kyrgyz border, flaring most recently in 2010 when hundreds died in clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in Osh. But the authorities say it is now under control thanks to strict measures to rein in provocateurs.
    According to Kyrgyz media, train communication on this route, organised in 2009 was unviable.
    Some have seen the new train as a sign of deeper political integration in the region. Political analyst, Bakyt Baketayev, compared it to the ancient Silken Road.
    "We, Central Asia, return to our roots. The thing is, the great principle of the Silken Road was trade, and now it is tourism, so this train, which was organised with great difficulties, I think, will initiate the integration in Central Asia," he said.
    The journey from Uzbekistan's capital to lake Issyk-Kul will take around 26 hours.
    Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim nation of 5.5 million, is a member of the Customs Union with Russia and Kazakhstan and its per capita GDP is less than a tenth of neighbouring Kazakhstan's. Russia also provides financial assistance to the impoverished ex-Soviet republic.
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