Fast Trains in Uzbekistan
When you tell your family or friends that you’re travelling to Central Asia, more often than not there is a look of confusion. Tell those same people that you’re travelling to somewhere ending in ‘Stan’, a stare of complete bewilderment usually follows along with questions along the lines of “isn’t that area very backward?”
Not only is Central Asia not backward, but Uzbekistan even has high-speed trains, the same as those you associate with Japan and France. While many western countries around the world are yet to build fast trains, Uzbekistan has had them for years. Beginning in 2011, travelling by high-speed rail is the easiest and most comfortable way to travel through Uzbekistan.
Currently there is roughly 600km of high-speed rail lines covering the main cities of Uzbekistan – Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara. With top speeds of 250 kilometres per hour, Uzbekistan has one of the fastest train systems in the world.
The high-speed train system in Uzbekistan is named Afrosiyob and runs numerous services per day. You need to make sure you organise your ticket early as the service is extremely popular with locals, in part due to the fact it is only fractionally more expensive than the regular train services that are also available. Booking your tickets is a simple affair and can be done online. Tickets can be purchased up to 45 days before the date of travel.
As you’d expect from a modern high-speed railway, the trains are brand new and extremely comfortable. Even in economy, the seats are spacious with all the fixtures you’d expect from a premium service. All the fast trains have dining cars as well as service directly to seats. Seats have plugs so you can charge all your devices and the carriages have television screens so you can enjoy the best television Uzbekistan has to offer.
The extension to Khiva and Urgench was meant to be finished in 2021 but as of the time of writing (2022), the high-speed line has not been completed. When completed, travellers will be able to journey from Tashkent to Khiva in only 7 hours, while currently it takes at least 16 hours. There are also plans to extend Uzbekistan’s high-speed network into Kazakhstan, firstly beginning with the line from Tashkent to Shymkent, then continuing on to Almaty.
The only issue with catching trains to Samarkand and Bukhara, as opposed to buses or taxis, is the fact that the train stations are not very convenient for the centre of the city. Due to these cities being very old, you’ll then need to jump in a car or bus to get you to where most of the accommodation, restaurants and sights are. However, this is the small price to pay for the convenience of greatly reduced travel times and the comfort that train travel in Uzbekistan provides.
Tashkent to Samarkand
344km
2 hours
Tickets: 100,000 Uzbek Som (roughly USD 9) - Economy
Operates Daily
Tashkent to Bukhara
600km
3 hours and 30 minutes
Tickets: 168,000 Uzbek Som (roughly USD 15) – Economy
Operates Daily
Samarkand to Bukhara
256km
1 Hour and 30 minutes
Tickets: 71,600 (roughly USD 6.50) – Economy
Operates Daily
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