President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at a government meeting on September 25 said that the pace of reforms in the railway sector lags behind reforms in other sectors and that it was big time has come to make fundamental changes in this area.” This was announced by his press secretary Sherzod Asadov.

In July, Zufar Narzullaev became the new CEO of the Uzbekistan Railways. About 30 “old-fashioned” managers have been replaced in the industry, and ineffective staff has been reduced, he said at the meeting.

On the instructions of the president, the “real situation” at 191 railway stations was studied, and meetings were held with 500 business leaders.

The examination found the main problems that require solutions in the railway sector.

In particular, the profitability of some railway enterprises is low, part of the carriage fleet is in need of repair and renewal, the necessary opportunities for private sector participation in the industry have not been created, and the population is dissatisfied with corruption in the sale of tickets, conditions and service in the carriages. All this points to the need to reform the industry, the president said.

In addition, the stations are highly congested due to the arrival of a large number of imported cars in Tashkent and provincial centers. The head of state noted that it was necessary to study the possibility of moving railway freight stations outside the cities. This will reduce freight traffic in cities and attract additional investment in areas.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev also pointed out the low degree of digitalization. In particular, over seven months, only 8% of cargo transportation services were issued electronically, 57% of passenger tickets were sold through ticket offices.

While, access to central stations is limited. Parking spaces are located far from the train stations. Trade and service services are not properly organized at the stations.

To prevent train collisions, the President ordered to take control of all road and railway crossings, install road signs, barriers and CCTV cameras.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved the proposal to transform Uzbekistan Temir Yollari JSC into a holding company and introduce modern management into the system. In particular, enterprises for infrastructure, freight cars and logistics, passenger transportation, and station management are separated into separate enterprises.