BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 21. Uzbek President
Shavkat Mirziyoyev has instructed officials to secure $200 million
in World Bank financing for railway infrastructure by the end of
the year and take urgent steps to expand freight wagon capacity as
businesses report mounting logistics constraints.


This was reflected in the statement published by the official
channel of the Press Secretary to the President of Uzbekistan.


The directives were issued during a government meeting reviewing
economic performance in the first half of 2026, with rail transport
identified as a key bottleneck affecting trade and industrial
production.


According to the president, around 70% of Uzbekistan's foreign
trade cargo, or approximately 46 million metric tons, is
transported by rail, making the sector critical to the country's
export and import supply chains.


Despite its importance, Mirziyoyev said entrepreneurs continue
to raise concerns about the availability of freight wagons and the
efficiency of rail services.


Officials reported that since the beginning of the year, cement
producers have been unable to obtain 2,800 freight wagons they had
requested to transport their products. The government also
acknowledged that plans to manufacture an additional 1,300 freight
wagons during the second half of 2026 will not be sufficient to
meet growing demand.


To address the shortage, Mirziyoyev instructed responsible
agencies to prepare, within 10 days, a feasibility plan for
bringing 10,000 idle freight wagons from partner countries into
Uzbekistan in cooperation with the private sector.







The president also highlighted capacity constraints on several
of the country's busiest railway corridors, including the
Angren–Pap, Tashguzar–Kumkurgan, and Tashkent–Samarkand lines,
which he said are operating under excessive workloads.


As part of efforts to modernize the rail network, Mirziyoyev
ordered officials to reach an agreement by the end of the year on
attracting $200 million in financing from the World Bank for
railway infrastructure development.


In addition, the Prosecutor General's Office was instructed to
examine how funds allocated for increasing the freight wagon fleet
have been used and review the current system for allocating
railcars to businesses.


The president called for proposals to improve the transparency
of freight wagon distribution, responding to longstanding
complaints from the private sector over access to rail
transport.


The measures form part of Uzbekistan's broader strategy to
strengthen transport infrastructure and improve logistics
efficiency as the country expands trade and industrial production.
Increasing rail capacity and improving the transparency of freight
services are expected to play a key role in supporting export
growth, reducing transport bottlenecks and enhancing Uzbekistan's
position as a regional transit hub.