The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Trans-Caspian Railroad
transportation line linking the countries of Central Asia to one another and with the nations to the west. Built in the late 19th cent., the line begins at Turkmenbashi (Krasnovodsk) on the Caspian Sea and passes through Ashgabat, Bukhara, Samarkand, and Tashkent. There are branches to the Fergana Valley. The Trans-Caspian line connects at Arys with the more recent Turkistan-Siberia RR and the Kazalinsk line to Orenburg. It was formerly also known as the Central Asiatic RR.
