A large, black steam engine with a bright red Bolshevik star on the front sits as a museum piece in front of the main train station in this city of 800,000. Railroad tracks link practically every town and village in a country with fewer people than Florida scattered across an area larger than the United States east of the Mississippi.
Having licensed locomotive designs from G.E., the railroad has set up a joint venture with a Russian company, Transmashholding, to manufacture and distribute the vehicles. The joint venture has already begun exporting to Tajikistan and is in discussions to sell more locomotives in Central Asia.
Comments