Maps of Afghan rail projects

The Ministry of Mines website now features a new photo gallery with some maps of proposed railways.

Map of major rail developments in Afghanistan

The National Resource Corridors map includes a Kabul to Kandahar railway “to be studied”. Historically this route was seen as a priority for developing a national rail network, but in recent years the focus has been on the more stable north of the country.

Map of national resource corridors in Afghanistan

The Regional Rail Networks map shows how things fit into the bigger picture. The Kazakhstan – Turkmenistan – Iran line paralleling the Caspian Sea appears to be absent, although recent news reports suggest part of it will open by October this year.

Map of railways in Afghanistan and surrounding countries

2 thoughts on “Maps of Afghan rail projects

  1. Hi Andrew
    I sent this earlier but don’t know if you got it. It is a translation of a news release from the web portal of Sistan and Balochistan province concerning the recently introduced passenger service to Zahedan. Mention is also made of work on the Chabahar-Zahedan-Mashhad line. Thought you might be interested.
    Greg.

    Governor: Passenger trains on the Zahedan-Tehran Line doubled

    The governor of Sistan & Baluchistan has announced that in consideration of the distance and increasing volume of passengers being carried, the number of passenger trains on the Zahedan-Tehran line, has been doubled.

    On Thursday [6 April 2011] Engineer Ali Mohammad Azad met with the managing director of the South-East Railway and reviewed the introduction of passenger trains in the Province. He added; “From next week, in addition to the two passenger services [running] on Mondays and Fridays from Zahedan to Tehran, an extra wagon will be added to each, raising the trains’ capacity from 300 people to 360 passengers.”

    He said; “It is intended that this summer the number of passenger trains will be [further] increased from two to three per week, each carrying 500 passengers. This measure in itself will be important in providing facilities for travellers.

    The Government’s high representative [for the supervision of] the implementation process of the Chabahar-Zahedan-Mashhad Railway, who was appointed by the President last year, characterised [progress] as favourable adding; “This project by the Khatam Al Anbiya’ company, [the Revolutionary Guard’s Engineering Conglomerate], is fast being implemented.

    18 Farvardeen 1390 [7 April 2011]

    Source: Web Portal of the Province of Sistan and Balochistan, report via http://www.sbportal.ir/newsdetail-3827-fa.html , accessed 15 April 2011.

  2. Why not use some of these rail routes to transport people QUIETLY from Afghanistan with their proper papers in hand to Pakistan and other surrounding countries? From there they can be sent to country’s that accepted them or will accept them for resettlement.

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