Afghan news agency Pajhwok reports on 28 December 2009 that the Iran to Herat railway is being delayed.
A Google Translation from Persian suggests it is down to some kind of financing problems.
There is a photograph showing some newly laid railway track - is it the Herat line, or a generic photo?
There is a short report “Afghan railway progress” on page 91 of the January 2010 issue of The Railway Magazine.
This mentions the Asian Development Bank funding, and describes the Iran to Herat line as “stalled due to both lack of resources and border disturbances”. It reports there are 20 wagon loadings a week to Towraghondi, and 30 daily to Hayratan.
I’ve put together a page on the project now underway to build a railway from Iran to Herat.
It’s amazing how much more information is available now compared to when I prepared the original notes on Afghan railway history - even quite ancient news reports can now be found online, and access to things like Hansard is so much easier.
An eyewitness report from a logistics company in Herat tells me the railway is “not finished yet”.
I recently had an enquiry about the status of the project to build a railway from Iran to Herat – the e-mail came from from a novelist undertaking background research, which was a bit unusual, but potentially interesting.
The existing branch line to serve mines near Sangan is being extended from Khaf, crossing the Afghan border near Islam Qala to run to Herat. There have been various news reports about progress, although I have not yet found any conclusive evidence of work being underway, for instance any photographs showing earthworks.
As far as I am aware no opening has been announced, and given the strategic significance of this scheme I was reasonably sure that the Iranian authorities would have publicised it if it had been completed and opened.
However, Thomas Hammes, a senior military fellow at the US National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies, mentions the Herat railway as being functional in an NPR programme.
Can anyone confirm (or deny) this? Does anyone have any firm evidence of the line been complete (or even underway)?
Military Thinkers Answer Listeners’ Questions
What about Iran? Iran is in the formula. Its border with Afghanistan is rife with drug traffic. I understand from news sources in the U.S. that I read or listen to that almost all the drugs go across Iran before being distributed to Europe and the U.S.
Sally Williams
Berkeley, Calif.THOMAS HAMMES: Sally, you are correct. Iran is in the formula and must be part of the solution. During our initial invasion in 2001, the Iranians provided assistance against the Taliban. Since then, our relationship with Iran has deteriorated and their willingness to cooperate has, too. However, they have assisted the development of western Afghanistan.
The only functioning railroad in Afghanistan comes in from Iran to Herat. They have improved the roads, access to markets and provided reconstruction aid. They feel these actions are in their best interest. At the same time, they feel supporting some of the anti-government groups is also in their best interest.
Source: Military Thinkers Answer Listeners’ Questions, NPR, 2009-10-11
ECO 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
A 20 May 2009 article from Time looks at Iran’s role in Afghanistan, including the Herat railway.
Some locals jokingly call Herat the “Dubai of Afghanistan.” The nickname is a stretch, but the mini-boom taking place in this commercial capital is borne out by 24-hour electricity and pothole-free streets where people wander without fear of the random violence that afflicts other urban centers in the country. Who gets the credit? Much of it goes to Iran, which lies less than a hundred miles to the west and is moving closer.
After completing a highway from its desert border, the Islamic Republic next door bankrolled an extension linking Herat city to Afghanistan’s remote northern provinces. Later this year, a host of Iranian-built schools, clinics and industrial parks around the city will be connected to the Iranian interior thanks to an $80 million railroad spur currently under construction. Homayoun Azizi, the head of Herat’s provincial council, says he’s grateful for the “huge impact” Iran has had in accelerating economic growth in the region, “But,” he asks, raising an eyebrow, “what are they doing beneath it all?”
More at Time
A German firm is reported to be negotiating to use the future railway from Iran to Herat to suply NATO.
German Army spokesman confirms negotiations with Iranian Pvt Firms
Berlin, April 2, IRNA – A spokesman of German Army here Wednesday confirmed in an interview with IRNA representatives of Iranian private firms negotiated with Germans regarding transferring some non-military facilities for German forces situated in Afghanistan.
The spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The German sides negotiating with Iran are representatives of private firms that provide foodstuff and fuel for the German forces serving at NATO units in Afghanistan.
He added, “These companies are after finding alternative routs for Pakistan to forward those goods to Afghanistan thorough it.”
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According to him, those companies have considered using the Chabahar-Zaranj road, or the Tehran-Harat railroad to transfer their logistical, non-military facilities to Afghanistan.
Source: IRNA 2009-04-02
There have been some slighly vague news reports suggesting that the railway from Iran to Herat may open during March. I’ve not seen anything definite yet though, and still haven’t seen any pictures of construction works.
Meanwhile, China’s thirst for copper could hold key to Afghanistan’s future is a March 8 2009 report from the South Asian News Agency about the Aynak copper mine project: China must complete an ambitious set of infrastructure projects, including Afghanistan’s first national railway, as part of the deal.
Moreover, China must deliver the infrastructure projects that helped it snag the deal over six rivals, including Phelps Dodge Corp., which was acquired by Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. in 2007.
These include an onsite copper smelter, a $500 million generating station to power the project and augment Kabul’s electricity supply, a coal mine to fuel the power station, a groundwater system, roads, new homes, hospitals and schools for mine workers and their families, and a railway line from the country’s northern border with Uzbekistan to its southeastern border with Pakistan.
The deal, Ashraf said, is structured so that by the seventh year, the entire work force will be Afghan. Beginning in 2010, 60 Afghan engineering students a year will study in China, he said, adding that Chinese language courses have begun at Kabul University.
Employment projections vary, but there’s general agreement that as many as 10,000 workers could be hired at Aynak and the coal mine in central Afghanistan, which the Jalrez Valley road project will link to the copper field. The railway will need thousands more.
Source: South Asian News Agency 2009-03-08
Afghan website Quqnoos reports on the Iran — Herat railway construction project. There is a photograph of some railway track, but it could be a stock picture rather than evidence of the work being underway.
Plans to extend the line from Herat to serve the existing railheads are mentioned.
Afghanistan’s railway project which will connect Shirkhan harbor with the western province of Herat will cost $2 billion.
The project which is planned to be completed in the next five years will connect Central Asia with Iran via Afghanistan.
Construction work on the project, from Herat to Iran, has already started. The design of the rest of the railway network from Herat to the Shirkhan commercial transit way is also in late planning stage.
The railway network which will be about 1200 km long will connect Afghanistan’s Shirkhan, Hairatan, Aqina and Torghondi commercial highways with the commercial harbors in the central Asian countries.
…
Meanwhile the media in Tajikistan have reported that work has begun on a railway network which will link Klokhabad with Panjpayan, on the border with Afghanistan.
Source: Quqnoos.com 2009-01-19
News from Railway Gazette International