The paper said that purchase of train will allow not to stop construction works, which are underway at Maroqand-Qarshi railroad.

The speed of hybrid train at electric traction can reach 250 km an hour and at diesel traction – up to 200 km an hour. Currently, two Talgo-250 electric trains run between Tashkent and Samarkand cities of Uzbekistan.

In the beginning of 2012, Uzbekistan Temir Yollari and the Asian Development Bank signed a credit agreement on allocation US$100 million to implement project “Electrification of railroad Maroqand-Qarshi”. Currently, the construction works are underway at the sight.

Electrification of railroad Maroqand-Qarshi will allow to cut expenses by 23% a year and save 16,000 tonnes of diesel a year. It will also improve service quality and cut cargo transportation by 1.2 hours. Time for transportation of passengers will be cut by 40 minutes. The capacity of the railroad will grow by 35%.

Uzbekistan is also planning to electrify other parts of railroad. Overall, Uzbekistan plans to electrify 2,000 km of road out of 4,100 km existing roads.