West should redirect Afghanistan money to north, says UN aide
The west should redirect much of its aid money from the violent south of Afghanistan to long-term development projects in the more peaceful north, including a rail network, the head of the UN mission in the country believes.
Kai Eide, the secretary general’s special representative in Kabul, will tell the security council today that the US and its allies should focus efforts to support key development areas including agriculture, transport and unlocking Afghanistan’s vast untapped mineral wealth.
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Eide said that General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander of Nato forces, had talked about “making this country in terms of security forces. We need to think in terms of sustainability on the economic side. By building a railway network and expanding electricity lines we create the base for dramatic economic growth potential.”Source: The Guardian, 2009-09-28
Long term development should include rail, security council told
September 29th, 2009Hayratan to Mazar-i-Sharif project details
September 27th, 2009Asian Development Bank has details of the Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif Railway Project. “Interesting to see it all in one place” says Michael G Erickson who spotted it.
The Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif railway link is part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program. It fits with Transport Corridors 3 and 6, which connect Central Asia to South Asia and the region to the Caucasus and the Middle East. Although the road between Hairatan and Mazar-e-Sharif has been improved, it cannot meet national and regional traffic needs. A railway from Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif will (i) improve links between Afghanistan and neighboring countries, as well as nearby seaports; and (ii) develop an integrated transport network that caters for different cargo.
The existing Uzbek railway network stops at the border town of Hairatan. This is a gateway to Afghanistan, but it has reached its full capacity (4,000 tons of cargo per month). The flow of goods from Central Asia to Afghanistan will increase from 25,000 tons to 40,000 tons per month over the next few years. To prevent bottlenecks at the border, the existing Uzbek railway at Hairatan needs to be extended into Afghanistan, in a first intervention, to Mazar-e-Sharif. At a later stage, the railway network will be extended to Herat in the west and Tajikistan in the east. The railway will service commercial and non-military cargo.
The project is a priority one for Afghanistan. It fits with its Railway Development Plan. It is closely linked to ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy for 2009-2013, which identifies the construction and rehabilitation of national roads and railways as a priority. It is also consistent with the CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy.
The infrastructure:
The Project outputs will be (i) around 80kms railway line from Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif with support facilities including rail/road connections and terminals constructed; (ii) established signaling and management information system; (iii) productive use of available land and social safeguarded; (iv) safeguarded and protected environment along railway corridor; (vi) strengthened institutions and management capacity.
Source: Asian Development Bank
Meanwhile, New rail line between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan to serve strategic purpose, reports Central Asia Online:
The construction of the 67km-long line is included in a memorandum of understanding to expand trade and economic opportunities that was recently signed by Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and the Asian Development Bank.
A technical team from Uzbek Railway is scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan shortly to prepare for construction. The cost of the project is estimated to be US$120 million, an amount that will provided by the Asian Development Bank. Construction is tentatively slated to begin in December.
Source: Central Asia Online, 2009-08-29
China’s interest in Pakistan rail links
September 27th, 2009In an article at Asia Times Online, Syed Fazl-e-Haider writes about co-operation between China and Pakistan, including plans to extend the Khyber Pass line and build the Spin Boldak line. There is also discussion of a direct China - Pakistan railway.
Chinese shun Pakistan exodus
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China has also shown interest in early laying a track between the Pakistan border town of Torkham and Jalalabad in Afghanistan, as the Chinese want to use the Pakistan Railways network to transport their goods and equipment for the development of copper mines and various other projects in Afghanistan. Separately, Pakistan Railways has completed a feasibility study for a rail section between Chaman, in Balochistan, and Kandahar in Afghanistan that is part of a proposed link across Afghanistan to Turkmenistan.
Source: Asia Times Online, 2009-09-11
€3bn needed for Herat - Mazar-i-Sharif railway
August 24th, 2009ECO Urged to Invest in Iran-Afghanistan Railway Project
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Minister of Road and Transportation Hamid Behbahani called on the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to provide Afghanistan with 3 billion Euros in credit to accomplish a railway project linking the country to Iran.
“To finish Iran-Afghanistan railway project, ECO is needed to provide 3 billion Euros in credit for the construction of a 1,250 km-long railway segment between Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif (in Afghanistan),” Behbahani said in a ceremony to mark the arrival in Tehran of the first freight train ferrying cargo from Islamabad to Istanbul via Tehran.
[more]Source: Fars News Agency 2009-08-23
Pakistan - Iran - Turkey container train
August 20th, 2009The demonstration Islamabad - Zahedan - Istanbul train started its journey from Pakistan on 14 August 2009.
There are more details of the service (in Turkish) on the TCDD website. The photo is of a Pakistan Railways broad-gauge train. The containers are transhipped between gauges at Zahedan in Iran.
TCDD says the journey is 6566 km - other sources say about 6500 km with 1 900 km in Pakistan, 2 570 km in Iran and 2 036 km in Turkey - and the plan is to carry textile products, cotton, medical hand tools(?), toys, games and sporting goods westbound, with machinery and parts, chemical products, paper and paper products, cars spares and agricultural tools going eastbound.
According to PakTribune the journey “will take 15 days from Pakistan’s federal capital to the Turkish capital”, compared to “40-45 days from Karachi to a Turkish port” (do they really mean the Turkish capital, which is Ankara, or do they actually mean Istanbul, which people often mistakenly think is the capital?).
There is also a suggestion that Pakistan may join OTIF, which provides a common legal framework for international rail operations.
According to Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency, regular services are expected to begin next year.
There are details of the background to the train in an article by Mohammad Mirzaei Kahagh, Director Transport & Communications at ECO, in the May 2009 issue of ECO Times. Despite the photos used in ECO Times, I don’t think Norfolk Southern or Norway’s Flåm railway are involved in the project!
Update: Barrie Hughes of the Welsh Highland Railway construction website has spotted that the tracklaying picture in the ECO Times article shows Cae Pawb mixed gauge crossing on the WHR/Cambrian Coast line in Porthmadog, Wales!
Update: The train reached Tehran on 23 August - Iran Daily has a photo of it. Director of Iran’s Railway Company Hassan Ziyari said the railroad is safer and more environmental friendly compared to the roadways and other transport modes. The duration of the entire journey can be reduced to 12 days in the future, he added, and voiced Iran’s preparedness for cooperating in new plans to expand rail networks of ECO members.
Update: It got to Turkey on 25 August - First train on Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul railway arrives in Turkey
Update: It arrived at Haydarpasa station, Istanbul’s Asian station, on 28 August. 
Medvedev backs rail projects
August 17th, 2009A Reuters report saying Russia’s President Medvedev backs Afghan railway projects.
Russia aims to spur Afghan region economy, win aid
By Roman Kozhevnikov and Anastasia Onegina
DUSHANBE, July 30 (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday brought together the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and their neighbour Tajikistan to try and spur regional economic recovery and attract huge aid flows.
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“We have a common space, which should be filled with all sorts of projects,” Medvedev said in the Tajik capital after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.“We were talking about energy projects, railway projects,” he told a news conference after talks also attended by Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon.
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Source: Reuters 2009-07-30
Good railways but lousy boundaries
August 16th, 2009This is a border with no boundaries, boasting a frontier town with no frontier
, said Jason Burke in describing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Chaman in an article in The Independent published on 21 January 1999: Frontline: Chaman, Pakistan-Afghan frontier - Legacy of the Raj: fine railways and lousy borders.
Even the home secretary in Quetta - the second-most senior civil servant in the province - admits the frontier, effectively created as the western boundary of British India, is a farce: “It is an imaginary border. You Britishers built us good railways but gave us some lousy boundaries.”
An Agenda Beyond the Elections
August 15th, 2009UN envoy: Afghanistan in 2009 – A turning point? is an article By Kai Eide, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, which appeared in the Estonian newspaper “Postimees” and was republished at ReliefWeb.
An Agenda Beyond the Elections
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Over the coming months, we will also have to build on initial progress achieved in the areas of regional cooperation and infrastructure development. The potential for regional cooperation goes way beyond the security sector. Trade, natural resources, energy and water management can bring Afghanistan and its neighbors together in a mutually beneficial way. Investment in key infrastructure programmes, including electricity lines and railway networks, could turn Afghanistan into a corridor for regional economic activities and provide the critical elements for Afghanistan’s own economic development. In those areas, we must be much more ambitious and broaden our perspective beyond the immediate geographical boundaries of Afghanistan itself.
Source: ReliefWeb 2009-08-01
Mazar-i-Sharif railway work to start by end of year
August 14th, 2009A report from a Chinese news agency saying work is to start imminently on extending the Uzbekistan - Hayratan railway line by 60 km to Mazar-i-Sharif.
Unfortunately the website of the Ministry for Commerce and Industries is “under maintenance” so I can’t check the source. The Rah-e-Nejat also has a website, but I can’t find the story using Google translate.
In the past there have been reports claiming that the German military is keen to see this line built, for bringing in supplies to German forces in Afghanistan. Presumably the line would be built to 1520 mm gauge, for compatability with the Uzbek rail network.
Construction of first railway in Afghanistan to begin within 4 months
KABUL, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) — Work for the construction of first Afghan railway to begin within the next four months, a local newspaper reported Thursday.
The essential project, costing 120 million U.S. dollars, would connect Uzbekistan to Mazar-e-Sharif city in north Afghanistan, the daily Rah-e-Nejat quoted a press release of Ministry for Commerce and Industries as reporting.
Afghanistan’s border town Hairatan is connected with Uzbekistan and the work for 60 km railway would begin from Hairatan possibly in this December, the newspaper further said.
A technical team from Uzbekistan would soon visit Afghanistan in connection with the project which is financed by the Asian Development Bank, the newspaper added.
Source: Xinhua 2009-08-14
(thanks to Michael G Erickson for spotting this)
Planning a Chaman - Kandahar route
August 13th, 2009Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission has used satellite images for Route Selection for Chaman Kandhar Railway Line. The client was Pakistan Railways, but unfortunately there is no date.
Scope of Work:
- To locate feasible route from Chamman, Pakistan to Kandhar, Afghanistan. The route had been marked on the satellite image
- Processing of satellite data. Geo-referencing. Digitization of SRS data for Chamman-Kandhar Railways Route Location and alignment
