OREANDA-NEWS. September 02, 2011. The new high-speed electric train Afrosiyob made its first trip from Tashkent to Samarkand.

This important event in the socioeconomic life of Uzbekistan marked the beginning of a new stage of development of the railway system and improvement of the transport services in the country.

Railway workers, government officials, members of the public and representatives of the diplomatic corpus became the first passengers of the Talgo-250 train.

The time of the trip from Tashkent to Samarkand is only two hours, making it one of the most convenient ways to reach the second-largest city in the country.

“In the earlier times, the trip would take eight hours. The trains had no air conditioners or heaters,” chairman of Nuroniy fund’s Samarkand city department Tursun Safarov remembered.

The high-speed train investment project was agreed during the visit of the President of Uzbekistan to Spain in 2009. Uzbekistan Railways and Patentes Talgo S.L. signed a Memorandum on mutual cooperation and reached a deal on purchase of two trains.

In January 2010, President Islam Karimov signed a resolution on purchase of two high-speed passenger trains Talgo-250, first of which was delivered this July.

The Afrosiyob electric train was designed by Patentes Talgo using unique technologies. Experts of Uzbekistan Railways, with the help of the Spanish partners, carried out the necessary work to adapt the rail roads of the country for the new train, havign established a modern system of security and radio communication.

The train consists of two locomotives, eight passenger coaches and a dining car. It is provided with necessary facilities for the passengers with disabilities. Afrosiyob, which has a maximum speed of 250 kmh, passes the distance between Tashkent and Samarkand (344 km) in just two hours. The train drivers and staff were trained in Spanish companies Talgo and Renfe.