Tashkent - Samarkand - Dushanbe train Q&A

[steven]

Questions and reports on the Tashkent - Samarkand - Dushanbe train line are welcome below.

We summarize all travel intelligence in the Uzbekistan train and Tajikistan train guides.

[noobnoob]

Hi all,
Sorry if this was posted somewhere else, but all I found was reports that this did not run.

Just booked tickets on a Tashkent - Dushanbe night train through the Uzbekistan railways site. So it looks like this connection finally works. Anyone with experience on this train?

Best,
Jay

[Atkudabrat2]

Salam bro

I am interested in this train,that direction.can you report about it please once your done
What time it leave and arrive.total trip duration? Cost?
Was the train full or Empty?
Any stops before Dushanbe in TJ?
Do you think a bicycle can fit somewhere ?any carriage for cargo or space in between wagons like normal uzbek train?

Photos of carriage inside and outside would be nice
Thanks in advance

[noobnoob]

Costs:
Platskartnyi - about 400,000 som
Kupe - about 490,000 som
About 19 hours
Leaves Tashkent 16:15 arrives Dushanbe 11:23

It doesn't leave for a few days, but according to the seat choosing mechanism on the website, platskartnyi is almost empty (indeed some entire wagons have not yet sold a ticket), but kupe is 80% sold out and will almost definitely sell out before departure in a few days.

According the website, kupe has AC, which is why it is probably full since price difference isn't huge and it will be super hot the day I travel.

Concerning the carriage, I'm pretty sure it is just like any soviet styled carriage. Not likely you could get a bike in Kupe, but maybe platskartnyi. Especially if you dismantle it as much as possible and choose a wagon that has lots of extra seats (unlike most Uzbek trains, this one appears to be mostly empty in 3rd class).

[Milad]

Hi,

very interesting, a Dushanbe - Tashkent direct train has not existed for the past years, indeed maybe not since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed! The timetable looks good too, also stops conveniently in the evening in Samarkand. A clear sign of the improving relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The old times with the migrant worker train Dushanbe - Moscow running through Uzbekistan (and a small stretch of Turkmenistan) for two days without any scheduled passenger stops are certainly not coming back... If anyone has news about a resumption of (any) direct train between Uzbekistan or Tajikistan and Russia would be very welcome. I check Central Asian train schedules rarely these days as it's gotten much more complicated because I can't access pass.rzd.ru or poezd.rw.by due to geoblocking (since February, for obvious reasons...). Uzbek or Kazakh Railways websites do work but are a quite a mess to use.

Kupe may also sell out quicker than Platskartnyj because there seem to be only 2 Kupe carriages on the train but 7 Platskartnyj. These are certainly old style Soviet-built trains. It would be interesting as well if this train is operated by Tajik or Uzbek railway train sets (there is no big difference, although Uzbek Railways are a bit better in keeping their trains clean).

[lucb]

Hi,

very interesting, a Dushanbe - Tashkent direct train has not existed for the past years, indeed maybe not since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed! The timetable looks good too, also stops conveniently in the evening in Samarkand. A clear sign of the improving relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The old times with the migrant worker train Dushanbe - Moscow running through Uzbekistan (and a small stretch of Turkmenistan) for two days without any scheduled passenger stops are certainly not coming back... If anyone has news about a resumption of (any) direct train between Uzbekistan or Tajikistan and Russia would be very welcome. I check Central Asian train schedules rarely these days as it's gotten much more complicated because I can't access pass.rzd.ru or poezd.rw.by due to geoblocking (since February, for obvious reasons...). Uzbek or Kazakh Railways websites do work but are a quite a mess to use.

Kupe may also sell out quicker than Platskartnyj because there seem to be only 2 Kupe carriages on the train but 7 Platskartnyj. These are certainly old style Soviet-built trains. It would be interesting as well if this train is operated by Tajik or Uzbek railway train sets (there is no big difference, although Uzbek Railways are a bit better in keeping their trains clean).

There's a Tashkent to Volgograd train via Nukus and Atyrau departing every Saturday at 23:58:

https://pass.rw.by/en/route/?from=Tashk ... e=everyday

[RollingTreeHouse]

I check Central Asian train schedules rarely these days as it's gotten much more complicated because I can't access pass.rzd.ru or poezd.rw.by due to geoblocking (since February, for obvious reasons...). Uzbek or Kazakh Railways websites do work but are a quite a mess to use.

What do you think about services like https://poezdato.net/ and Yandex Timetable that show the rail timetables of CIS countries?

[Milad]

They work too but also lack a number of useful tools compared to pass.rzd.ru and poezd.rw.by, e.g. you can't search for "any day" and you can't see which national railway company operates a given international train. I'm a bit surprised that Yandex works now, I think they were geoblocked too a few months ago.

[sebhoff]

http://pass.rw.by/en allows you to search for "any day" and is not geoblocked, so I was very happy to discover it here in a previous post. I didn't find anything about infos relating to railway companies, though...
Sebastian

[RollingTreeHouse]

Poezdato allows "any day", just leave the date field empty when looking up routes or stations.
It doesn't show the operator or details like through coaches though.