Bukhara to Dushanbe Train

[vbnmoig]

Hi all – just wondering if anyone has taken or heard of train route 319Ж (Volgograd-1 — Kulyab) from Bukhara to Dushanbe?

The route came up on Tutu.Travel but I haven't seen anything online about this train (it departs Bukhara on Sundays and arrives in Dushanbe on Monday morning).

Thanks!

[HugoL]

I took this train two days ago from Karshi to Dushanbe (having begun my journey from Samarkand).

The train can be found on the Belarusian booking site but it's not bookable, though I purchased the ticket directly from the kassa at Samarkand station with no problems. The Platzkart ticket price from Karshi to Dushanbe was 331,996UZS which I found to be very expensive, though the lure here is the stress-free travel to Dushanbe.

The train is operated by Tajik railway, on old soviet era carriages. Though it definitely shows its age, all the facilities including the bathroom were acceptable, and the staff were very friendly besides being curious about seeing an odd Westerner on the train. Bring some icy cold water with you and sleep on the upper bunk to take advantage of the breeze from the window, as it remains boiling hot until very late in the evening.

The train got to the border at around 1:30, Uzbek border procedures were conducted on the train and a registration slip was requested. The train started moving again at 3:00, arriving at Dushanbe-1 around 5:00, where Tajik immigration procedures take place, it was chaotic but nonethless very quick as the officials were ready to stamp anything that was handed to them.