Herat railway to open by 20 March 2013?

Iran to invest in Afghan railways

Iran plans to invest $75mln in the construction of the Afghanistan part of Khaf-Herat railway line which is due to connect the country to Eastern Iran, a Kabul official announced on Sunday.

Afghanistan Deputy Minister of Public Works Wali Mohammad Rassouli said that the railway has been divided into four parts, two of them in Iran and the other two in Afghanistan.

“The third and fourth sections are inside Afghanistan. The third part which is 62km long will be completed by the end of this solar calendar year (on March 20, 2013) by Iran’s $75mln gratis aid,” he said, adding that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will fund the last part.

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Source: Fars News Agency, Iran, 2012-08-26

Herat railway “will start operation soon”, says Iranian official

The Iranian-backed railway from Khaf in Iran to the Afghan city of Herat will open “in the near future”, reports Iranian news agency Fars. Unfortunately there is no definition of “near future”!

A previous report earlier this year suggested that a lot of work was still required within Afghan territory. Does anyone know the current situation?

Iran to Inaugurate Transit Railway with Afghanistan Soon

A senior Iranian legislator announced on Saturday [30 October 2010] that the country plans to inaugurate a transit railway line linking Iran’s eastern parts to the western regions in Afghanistan in the near future in a move to facilitate transfer of goods and cargos between the two neighboring countries.

“The transit line which will link Torbat Heidariyeh (in Northeastern Iran) to Herat (in Western Afghanistan) will start operation soon and it is due to be extended to Iran’s Southern-most port city of Chabahar (on the rims of the Persian Gulf),” member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Ali Rezaee told FNA.

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Source: Fars News Agency, 2010-10-30


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