Author: Andrew Grantham

Tracklaying starts on Afghan section of Iran – Herat railway

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

A ceremony marks the start of tracklaying on the Afghan section of the Iran to Herat railway.

The locomotives are Islamic Repubic of Iran Railways Siemens/Mapna Iranrunnner or Safir locos.


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Another China to Afghanistan freight train

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

You wait for ages, then two China to Afghanistan freight services start at once.

This second service set off from Yiwu in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province on August 28, carrying 100 containers of goods worth more than US$4m. The 7500 km journey to Mazar-i-Sharif via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was expected to take 15 days. A weekly service is planned by the end of the year.1

The contaners are carried on flat wagons, rather than open wagons as with the train from Nantong.

References

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 ↩

Kunduz province Alchin bridge attack pictures and video

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

[no railways in this post!]

This is not a picture of the Alchin Bridge near Kunduz in Afghanistan being attacked by the Taliban. It is a picture of the controlled demolition of a bridge in Kansas in the USA in 2006.

Topeka Boulevard bridge, USA, - not the Alchin bridge

Various news reports say a road bridge in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province was attacked by the Taliban (or possibly a US air strike) on 21 August 2016.

Most of the news reports are illustrated with a picture or video of an explosion destroying a bridge. While not all reports explicitly claim that the photo shows the attack in question, some do make this claim. Claims that the picture is of the attack are also being made on social media.

However, a Google reverse image search find that the picture is actually a screenshot from around 1 min 15 sec into a video of the demolition of a section of the Topeka Boulevard bridge over the Kansas River on 9 August 2006, to make way for a replacement bridge; note the truss bridge in the background, and the people at the lower centre of the image.

Here is another view of the Kansas bridge demolition:

Some of the Afghan news reports give the impression that the bridge which has been attacked is the bridge opened in 2007 across the river which forms the border between Shir Khan Badar in Afghanistan and Nizhny Pyanj in Tajikistan:

Afghanistan - Tajikistan Bridge 2012 side view
The Afghanistan – Tajikistan Bridge at Shir Khan Bandar.

However, other reports specify that the bridge which was attacked was in fact the Alchin Bridge, or Pul e Alchin. According to Google Maps, Alchin is near the city of Kunduz, and has a bridge which is on the road north from Kunduz to Shir Khan Bandar and Tajikistan. This is not the bridge at the border, but it is on the route to the border, and it becomes possible to see how confusion has arisen.

Alchin Bridge explosion map

I have not managed to find a verifiable photo of the Alchin Bridge.

TAT railway progress

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Turkmenistan’s state news agency TDH has published an update on the TAT Railway project: News about the international Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway project (TDH, 28 June 2016).

This says construction of the Atamyrat to Imanazar1 section of the TAT Railway is “well underway”, and is being implemented by the Ministry of Railway Transport of Turkmenistan “at an accelerated pace”.

The railway now runs for 80 km to the site of Imanazar station. Power transmission lines, the Gulistan and Imanazar stations, and two railway bridges 363 m and 256 m long are under construction.

TDH says this section of the line is of great importance, as it will support the industrial development of Lebap velayat (province) including a potash fertiliser mining and processing plant which is under construction. The new line will also “undoubtedly give new impetus to development of interstate trade-economic relations, promote the steady growth of their trade turnover and expand the regional transport, industrial and social infrastructure.”

  1. Also written Ymamnazar, Ymam Nazar, Ymymnazar etc ↩

Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister at Afghan railway ceremony

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov made a rare and little publicized visit to three northwestern Afghan provinces at the end of June.
[…]
Officially, Meredov was there to discuss bilateral projects. He participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway in the town of Akina in Faryab Province
[…]
Source: Majlis Podcast: Turkmenistan’s Afghan Dilemma, Bruce Pannier, RFE/RL, 2 July 2016

News on the Iran to Herat railway

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Some news reports on the railway from Khaf in Iran to Herat in Afghanistan have appeared, although I can’t spot English-language versions.

Using Google Translate, I think the Fars News report about progress with the railway says that the 76.8 km from Khaf to the border has been finished. It is suitable for 160 km/h passenger and 120 km/h freight trains, and services could start in October[?].

A BBC Persian article possibly says that Iran’s consul general in Herat, Mahmoud Afkhami Rashidi, has said that [construction, track-laying?] work on the Iranian border to Ghurian third section of the railway will resume after Eid al-Fitr [6 July 2016]. The fourth stage of the line will be built by the Afghan[?] government and take the line to an industrial area in Herat[?]. The governments of Afghanistan and Iran have recently held talks about security and technical co-ordination for the construction of the line.

Railway to a place of evil memory

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

KHYBER PASS RAILWAY.
A railway has been opened through the Khyber Pass—a place of evil memory to British troops and a nightmare to India. The railway is 27 miles long from the entrance to the Pass to a valley near Londi Khotal. There are 32 tunnels, and the steepest gradient is one over 25. The old military problems of India and Afghanistan are now altered.

Source: Gloucester Journal, Saturday 7 November 1925