Uzbekistani law enforcement is ready to guard new rail line

TASHKENT -- Uzbekistani authorities are guarding their vital railway infrastructure, which gained a long-awaited component in June.

Law enforcement personnel July 14 in Andijan carried out counter-terrorism exercises as part of preparation for such duties.

The issue of guarding transport facilities in the Fergana Valley became particularly relevant June 22, when the first test passenger train passed through the just-completed Kamchik Tunnel in the Qurama Mountains.

Completion of that tunnel, which took almost three years, ends 25 years of transport isolation of three Uzbekistani provinces from the rest of the country.

Authorities vow to protect the vital tunnel from terrorism.

Meanwhile, they are continuing to arrest suspected extremists in the valley.

They include Farkhojon Rakhimov, whom the Fergana Provincial Court sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment July 14.

Rakhimov, 35, "spread extremist propaganda on the internet", Arif Atajanov, a spokesman for the federal general prosecutor's office, told Caravanserai. "He urged everyone to 'wage jihad against infidels' ... incited residents of his own district and organised illegal gatherings."

Rakhimov pled guilty after prosecutors presented the extremist photos and videos on his tablet as evidence, Atajanov said.

Re-uniting the country by rail

The Kamchik Tunnel has ended three provinces' isolation from the rest of the country, and authorities are committed to protecting it.

"In Soviet times, the ... Fergana Valley was linked to the rest of Uzbekistan by a railway line that goes through Tajikistan," Uzbekistan Railways spokesman Oibek Mamadaliyev told Caravanserai. "

"After 1991, with the outbreak of civil war in Tajikistan, [Uzbekistan] stopped using it," he said. "For 25 years, three Uzbek provinces were connected to the rest of the country only by air and by a single ... mountainous highway."

The affected provinces are Fergana, Andijan and Namangan.

"The first [test] passenger train went through the tunnel June 22," Mamadaliyev said.

Regular passenger service is scheduled to begin this autumn.

The three-year-long project "cost $455m [1.3 trillion UZS]", he said.

Law enforcement is preparing for the challenge of guarding the long-awaited all-Uzbekistan rail service.

"On July 14, law enforcement agencies held ... exercises at the Andijan bus station," Interior Ministry (MVD) spokesman Samvel Petrosyan told Caravanserai. "The army, MVD, Emergency Situations Ministry and other agencies participated."

"The bus station became the location for these exercises because ensuring the safe flow of transport is a priority for law enforcement," he said.

"In the exercise scenario, terrorists seized the bus station," Petrosyan said. "The exercise's participants displayed a high level of professionalism, quickly neutralising the ... militants. Firefighters and rescue teams worked together to extinguish a fire and evacuate the injured."

"All objectives were achieved," Petrosyan said.

Secure train stations

Uzbekistanis are noticing higher security at railway stations.

"Security for our train stations is practically the same as at the airport," Tashkent resident Mansur Abdukhojayev told Caravanserai. "You may not enter a station or even the area next to it without a ticket."

Security personnel at train stations "inspect personal items with X-ray machines", he said. "Passengers' companions may not enter the station."

"Security at Uzbekistan's train stations was tightened in 2011," Mamadaliyev said. "Amendments to the relevant law introduced mandatory baggage inspections and bodily searches for passengers at the entrance to the station. Passengers who refuse a search may not enter the station or board a train."

Uzbekistan in its post-Soviet history has not suffered a terrorist attack at a railway station or on any part of its railway infrastructure.