Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, August 24 /Trend H.Hasanov/
With commissioning of the Turkmen-Kazakh section of international North-South railway in mid-May 2013 the total volume of transit traffic has significantly increased, Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary (TDH) State News Service noted in its comment.
At the time, Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev took part in the opening ceremony of the section.
"With the commissioning of the Turkmen-Kazakh section of North-South railway corridor the intensity of transit flows increased by 8 times," the material said.
This project has been implemented since 2007 after signing the high-level agreements between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
The entire length of the railway running from Kazakh steppes through Karakum to the mountainous province of Golestan in northern Iran, constitutes 900 kilometers. The longest one - almost 700-kilometer section of the road- is in the territory of Turkmenistan.
The State News Service noted that Turkmen builders constructed in short-term over 400 kilometers of the route- from Bereket station through the settlement Gizilgaya till the borders with Kazakhstan, where Serkhetyak station is located.
This project of transit-transport corridor, intended to provide convenient and cost-effective delivery of cargo from Europe to Central and South Asia, Near and Middle East, embodies the idea of reviving the Silk Road, which linked the nations of Eurasia thousands of years.
The day before during his working visit to Balkan velayat (region) the President of the country Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov underscored the importance of railway, intended to contribute to successful integration of the region countries to the process of global economic development, the Turkmen media outlets told.
"This strategic steel route is also a serious factor in terms of geopolitics, which can have big positive impact on the general situation in the region and beyond it, impart additional stability to the entire system of continental global economic relations," Turkmenistan's President said.