The Tashkent to Samarkand high speed rail line is a 344 kilometre (214 mi) high speed rail connection between Tashkent and Samarkand the two largest Uzbek cities. The route passes through four provinces: Tashkent, Sirdaryo, Jizzakh and Samarqand in Uzbekistan. Trains operate seven days a week under the brand Afrosiyob.Construction began on the line on March 11, 2011, with completion planned for later that year at a cost of roughly $70 million.The line includes both new and rebuilt trackage, as well as adding modern signaling systems to the route.In addition to building trackage capable of supporting high speed service, some track of lower standards was built to the cities of Bukhara and Khiva as part of the project.The 344 kilometres (214 mi) high speed line is capable of speeds up to 250 km/h (160 mph), with a total travel time between Tashkent and Samarkand of about two hours.The line was planned to open for commercial operation in September 2011,but suffered from delays.
Two trainsets for operation on the line were ordered in November 2009 from Talgo at a cost of38 million.The cost of the purchase was split between operator Ozbekiston Temir Yollari and a loan from the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan. The first trainset, a Talgo 250, was delivered to Tashkent on July 22, 2011, with a second following in September. Each trainset consists of two power cars, eight passenger cars with a capacity of 257 people and a dining car. The train carried out its first trip from Tashkent to Samarkand on August 26, 2011.Commercial service started on October 8, 2011 twice a week under the brand Afrosiyob. Initially, total travel time was still more than two and half hours but services were upgraded to five times a week in January 2012, and daily services started one month later.The passenger capacity of an electric train is 257 people. The train consists of two locomotives and 9 comfortable nonsmoking passenger carriages (2 VIP class carriages, 2 Business class carriages, 4 Economy class carriages and 1 dining carriage