Friday, July 29, 2011 -
Uzbekistan has purchased 20 tramcars from Czech company Pragoimex to be used in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, news sources reported on Thursday.
The VarioLF cars will be purchased for $19.8 million, and the first two trams are expected to be delivered to Uzbekistan in August of this year. These tramcars will be put into operation in September.
Uzbekistan will finance the purchase through the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund, the Trend news agency reported on Thursday.
The remaining 18 cars will be delivered throughout the course of 2012, Pragoimex said.
Uzbekistan is purchasing the new tramcars as part of its program to expand public transportation infrastructure in the country’s capital. Construction will start on an additional 9.8 miles of track on the existing lines, to add to the existing 126 miles already used by the system.
The new tramcars can hold 33 passengers at a time, the UzReport.com news agency reported on Wednesday.
The expansion of the Tashkent tram system is part of the Program of Development of Infrastructure, Transport and Communication Construction for 2011-2015, put forward by Uzbek President Islam Karimov in late 2010.