Hayratan

Freight train from China arrives in Afghanistan

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The first rail freight service from China arrived at Hairatan in Afghanistan on 7 September 2016, having left Nantong in eastern China’s Jiangsu province on 25 August 2016.

Guests at a welcoming ceremony includied the former governor of Balkh province, Mohammad Ishaq Rahguzar, and China’s ambassador.

The same rolling stock did not run through all the way, because China uses 1435 mm standard gauge railway track while the former USSR and Afghaistan use 1520 mm (“Russian”) gauge. The containers were presumably transhipped at the break of gauge at the China-Kazakhstan border.

The train was hauled in Afghanistan by a TEM2 diesel locomotive decorated with banners and the flags of China and Afghanistan.

Geopolitical significance:

There are still some technical issues:

First China to Afghanistan freight train departs

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

What is described as the first train from China to Afghanistan1 left Nantong in eastern China’s Jiangsu province on 25 August 2016, carrying 84 containers.2

It is scheduled to take 15 days to complete the journey, running via the Alataw Pass, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Hairatan in northern Afghanistan.3

Two trains are scheduled to run each month, as part of China’s “Belt and Road” initiative to improve Asian transport connectivity.

The inaugural train was photographed being hauled by Class ND5 (General Electric Type C36-7) diesel-electric locomotive number 0157, which was decorated with a red pompom kind of thing on its nose and with a sign on the front saying in English:

Central Asia Trains
Nantong—Afghan – Hairatan

plus some Chinese writing, which I’m reliably informed says the same thing.

There was also a banner on the side of the locomotive saying “Congratulations on the Central Asial trains (Nantong – Afghanistan – Hairaton) launching“,4 and there were banners on some of the wagons.5

Interestingly, the containers are being carried in open wagons, rather than on flat wagons. The wagons themselves will presumably not be making the full journey, instead the containers will be shipped from China’s 1435 mm standard gauge wagons to the fomer USSR’s 1520 mm gauge at the Kazakh border.

References

  1. I have no particular reason to doubt this claim ↩
  2. Cargo train services launched between Nantong and Afghanistan, Xinhua, 25 August 2016 ↩
  3. Cargo train leaves Nantong on first journey to Afghanistan, CCTV.com, 25 August 2016 ↩
  4. For what it’s worth, the spelling of Hairatan/Hairaton was not consistent between the front and side banners ↩
  5. Central Asia freight train service starts, Xinhua, 25 August 2016 ↩

Crossing the Friendship Bridge on foot

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

An article by traveller Jonny Blair describing crossing the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border. It includes pictures of a freight train crossing the Friendship Bridge as he walks across.

At this moment a freight train energises its way past me, just to remind me there are other people around. I briefly envisage Ringo Starr belting out a shit Thomas the Tank Engine line. This is truly off the rails though.

Two videos of walking over the Friendship Bridge:

Amo Hairatan Oil Refinery video

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

A video of the Amo Hairatan Oil Refinery. There are no trains in the video as far as I can see, but a railway siding features from 09:54 and 10:18.

According to its website, Amo Hairatan Refinery LLC was registered in Afghanistan in 2012 by a partnership between citizens of Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. The plant was built on 4 hectares land, and has a monthly capacity of 15,000 tons of Afghan crude, which can be converted into diesel, gasoline, kerosene and furnace fuel oil.

Uzbek Railways awarded new Afghan operations and maintenance contract

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Last year the Afghanistan Railway Authority invited expressions of interest in contracts to operate and maintain the 75 km railway from Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif.

On 15 March 20151 Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works awarded Uzbek national railway UTY a new contract to operate and maintain the line.2

This contract replaces the original 2011 operating contract, which was worth worth $32m/year. On 8 February 2011 UTY established its Sogdiana Trans subsidiary to undertake operations and maintenance in Afghanistan.3

The latest contract runs for three years and will see UTY paid $19m/year to manage the line. UTY will pay taxes, and is to provide training for 50 Afghans each year. Until now the railway has only been used for imports, but the new contract should see the line used to carry a total of at least four million tonnes of Afghan goods for export.