KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) has assured the transportation of goods on the Hairatan-Mazar-i-Sharif railway line in northern Balkh province will resume soon, asking traders to use the Aqina-Andokhai railway line until then.
Uzbekistan Railways on Wednesday suspended rail transportation to Afghanistan through the Hairatan-Mazar railway line, saying the acting Afghan government had failed to honor technical obligations as per an agreement signed in late December.
According to a statement issued on the company’s Facebook page on Tuesday night, transporters were informed that all railway shipments on the Galaba/Hairaton – Mazar-i-Sharif line would stop effective Wednesday, February 1.
Uzbekistan Railway stated that since the line was built in 2010, all services to the railway line have been provided by its subsidiary company Sogdiana Trans.
However, ARA on its Twitter page wrote that it was ready to carry out all affairs at the Hairatan-Mazar line and was trying to bring the transportation process back to normal as soon as possible.
The authorities also asked traders to use the Aqina-Andokhai rail route where all necessary facilities were available and where they could transfer their commercial goods normally.
It said since traders knew the ARA had been busy over the past three months to Afghanise the management and all operations of the Hairatan-Mazar railway line and for this purpose the Prime Minister’s office had appointed a delegation.
The ARA said the mentioned delegation had held several online and face-to-face meetings with Uzbekistan officials, reaching an agreement with the Uzbek side on the issue.
During the delegation’s last visit to Uzbekistan, an action plan was readied under which the transfer process should be completed on January 31, 2023 based on a memorandum of understanding. Barring a limited activities, all activities will be carried out by the Afghanistan Railway Authority.
The two sides held comprehensive discussions on the memorandum of understanding and the Afghan delegation would travel to Uzbekistan in the next two days to finalize and sign the accord, after which the transportation of goods through the Hairatan-Mazar railway line would resume normally.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate spokesman, also wrote on Twitter yesterday that the transportation of goods on the Hairatan-Mazar railroad had been temporarily suspended, asking traders to exercise patience.
He also asked traders to use the Aqina-Andokhai railway line for transportation of emergency goods. He said the Afghanistan Railways had no technical or operational problem and the freight trains had been suspended by Uzbekistan.
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