The train line comes in spite of ethnic tensions. Violence has been endemic across Uzbekistan‘s city of Ferghana some 12 miles off Kyrgyz border, flaring most recently in 2010 when hundreds died in clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. But the authorities say it is now under control thanks to strict measures to rein in provocateurs. Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim nation of 5.5 million, is a member of the Customs Union with Russia and Kazakhstan, though its GDP is far lower than that of both nations and it relies on financial assistance from Moscow to survive.