Moldovan Railways Ensuring Passengers’ Transportation from two Transnistrian Towns

The Railways of Moldova will ensure, till the end of June 2006, passengers’ transportation from Tighina and Tiraspol towns, on their request, willing to travel to and from Moscow. Traveling to Tiraspol by train was obstructed in March 2006, once Transnistrian separatists blocked the railway. The separatists motivated the blocking by the fact that Moldova implemented new customs regulations at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border and triggered „an economic blockade for Transnistria”. The Moldovan Railways manager’s counselor, Anatol Tsvetkov noted that at that time, Transnistrian authorities invoked ceasing trains’ traffic by the bad condition of a railway’s portion, for the passengers’ safety sake. Until now, in order to take a train to Moscow, the citizens of the Tiraspol and Tighina towns had to travel to Chisinau in first instance. Since the trains’ circulation from Tiraspol was stopped, The Moldovan Railways set up, in the mayoralty of Varnitsa village, ticket desks where passengers can buy tickets for the Chisinau-Moscow train. At present the Moldovan Railways’ leadership examines the possibility to restart the traffic of two wagons on the railway Chisinau-Tighina, daily coming to Chisinau, and than attached to the train Chisinau–Moscow. At the same time, Calea Ferata a Moldovei also examines the possibility of establishing train traffic on the route Tighina-Chisinau-Saint Petersburg.