Electrification project contract in Uzbekistan awarded to DB Engineering

DB Engineering & Consulting has been awarded a contract to supervise the electrification of a major rail line. This decision, made at the 6th meeting of the German-Uzbek Economic Council, gives DB Engineering & Consulting an excellent opportunity to continue the important strategic partnership with Uzbekistan.

18 hours is how long it currently takes to travel by train from the Uzbek capital Tashkent to the city of Urgench located further west. Uzbekistan extends 1,425 kilometres from east to west, more than twice the width of Germany. The operation of high-speed trains can reduce this travel time to just seven hours. This requires the conversion of the 452-kilometer Bukhara-Urgench-Khiva rail section to electric traction.

DB Engineering & Consulting will supervise the electrification project, which will start in the fall of 2022. In addition to reducing travel time, it is expected to increase the tourism potential of the Republic of Uzbekistan, increase the capacity of transit corridors, and reduce CO2 emissions.

As part of a strategic partnership with the Uzbek Ministry of Transport and Uzbek Railways, DB Engineering & Consulting is already providing construction supervision services for three other rail projects. These include the construction of the Qamchik rail tunnel on the Angren-Pap line and the line extension of the Tashkent subway.

The transport industry and, specifically, rail transport are important sectors of the economy in Uzbekistan and therefore a priority for the government. In 2021, political decision-makers and representatives from Uzbekistan and Germany discussed how the successful cooperation for the development and expansion of the Uzbek transport sector could be intensified. A joint working group comprising the Uzbek Ministry of Transport, Uzbek Railways and DB Engineering & Consulting drafted recommendations on how to improve the organisational structure and management of the rail companies, increase financial stability, expand logistics potential, and transit corridors, push ahead with digitalisation, and boost the competitiveness of rail transport.