A tragedy was caused by the controversial Afrosiyob high-speed train in Uzbekistan.
According to a report from Radio Ozodlik, the Uzbek service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Aziza Fahriddinova, age 7, was killed when the wind from the fast train swept her against a post, fergananews.com reported.
Authorities were supposed to put barbed-wire fences around the tracks but never got around to it. It's "Stand by Me" come to real life.
The tragedy occurred on the line from Ok Oltin-Gulestan. The Samarkand transportation inspector is conducting an investigation.
Does this have anything to do with the Northern Distribution Network? No. Except it shows incompetence on the rails, and indifference to human safety.
EurasiaNet has reported on The Little Train That Couldn't -- the Afrosiyob -- in the past, implying that it was related to the NDN: "You might call it the train in vain. And it has troubling implications for a US plan to stoke East-West trade via a New Silk Road, as well as keep American and NATO troops well supplied in Afghanistan."
Well, everything is related to the elephants of the NDN in EurasiaNet's book, but this is a civilian train not carrying the military freight -- it's only related to the whole "New Silk Road" concept of using this same passageway for military cargo for boosting the economy in general.
EurasiaNet said the Afrosiyob, made in Spain, after starting up last October, stopped operations November 17 for unknown reasons although hinted that it either caught fire or derailed.
But it must not have been down for long because it began running again, evidently in January 2012, leading to this little girl's death.
