Iran – Afghanistan railway to be completed in 10 days?

Construction work on a segment of railroad project extended from Iran to Afghanistan in western Herat province will be finished in the next 10 days and then put into service, said the Iranian Ambassador [Mohammad Raza Bahrami] on Saturday [=14 October 2017].

Work on the 62-kilomteres long railway project from Iran’s border to Ghoriyan district of Herat was launched in 2007 at a cost of $75 million based on a grant from neighboring country. The project was scheduled to be finished in 2009.

[…]

Eng. Barzanoni, specialist of the railway project, said of all the 62 kilometres of the railway inside Afghan soil, about 33 kilometers railway was stretched and the rest would be completed in the next 10 days.

Officials say the Herat-Khauf 191-long railroad is being constructed in four segments. About 139 kilometer of the project is financed by Iran and the fourth segment cost is provided by the Afghanistan national budget.

Source: Work on Iran-Herat rail-line to complete till 2017 end. Storai Karimi, Pajhwok, 14 October 2017

Lapis Lazuli railway inauguration soon

Lapis-lazuli hg
A piece of lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.

During a recent visit to Aqina in Faryab province, Mohammad Shakir Kargar, the Afghan President’s advisor on Central Asian affairs, gave officials the go-ahead for the creation of “security, cultural, infrastructure development, transport and protocol committees” for the start of work on an 36 km railway from Aqina to Andkhoy, reports Pajhwok Afghan News.1

Design work is to be completed over the next two to three months, and construction is to start soon. Faryab province Governor Syed Anwar Sadaat said preliminary works had already begun, and arrangements were being made for a the leaders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to attend a ceremony in Aqina to launch the project.

This line would be an extension of the railway from Turkmenistan to Aqina which is nearing completion (perhaps the start of work on the next section will be combined with an opening ceremony?).

Kargar said freight traffic at Aqina is prdicted to be 3.5 million tonnes in the first year, and 10 million tonnes by 2020. He said the Asian Development Bank would provide $200m for another section of line to connect the current projects with the existing railway from Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif.

The link from Turkmenistan to northern Afghanistan forms part of the “Lapis Lazuli corridor”, a concept for improving road and rail links between Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, harmonising customs systems and removing other obstacles to trade.

  1. Lapis Lazuli railroad project to be inaugurated in 3 months“, Qutbuddin Kohi, Pajhwok Afghan News, 16 February 2016

Balkh railway video

A November 2010 video of the new railway in northern Afghanistan, featuring a TEM2 locomotive and a smart inspection car.

Nov 6, 2010: Abdul Qodus Naiman Hamidi, Minister of Public Works, visited the newly constructed Mazar-Hairatan railway track today here in provincial capital of Balkh.The aim of this trip is to inquire the construction works of this railway track, he said. (PAJHWOK/Zameer Saar)

Mazar-i-Sharif line to be extended to Dara-i-Sauf

MAZAR-I-SHARIF: Work on railway line to begin soon: Officials from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan have agreed to launch construction work on a 75-kilometre railway line, linking Mazar-i-Sharif with the Hairatan dry port.

An agreement to the effect was reached at talks between the two sides on January 16.

The construction of another railway line — linking the airport in Mazar-i-Sharif to Dara-i-Sauf district of neighbouring Samangan province — would be launched in the second phase, he revealed.

[more]

Source: South Asian Outlook quoting Pajhwok Afghan News, 2010-02-??