Author: Andrew Grantham

ADB suspends TAT railway funding

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

According to a news report, on 15 December 2015 the Asian Development Bank’s Country Director for Tajikistan, Si Si Yu, told reporters that ADB had suspended its financial support for the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway owing to security risks.1

“Although Turkmenistan has completed construction of its section of the railway, we do not intend to finance construction of a railway in country where (Afghanistan) security is not guaranteed,” Yu said. “It’s very risky.” He said the ADB would “probably” return to the project “when the security situation in Afghanistan improves.”

I can’t spot any other reports on this, or an official announcement from ADB.

References

  1. ADB cuts support for construction of Afghan railway, Harun Varlı, Videonews, 16 December 2015 ↩

Turkmenistan’s Afghan border rail link nears completion

Posted on by Andrew Grantham


View Turkmenistan – Andkhoy railway plan in a larger map

Turkmenistan has completed construction of the 85 km Atamurat1 – Imamnazar2 section of the future Turkmenistan – Afghanistan – Tajikistan railway, Trend News Agency reports,3 citing a message from the Turkmen government (I can’t find this message – does anyone know if it is available online?).

Construction of the line was ceremonially launched on 5 June 2013. Earthworks are visible on Google Maps satellite photos, running in a straight line southwest from Atamurat.

Trend says two bridges and two stations are still to be completed, along with the final 3 km from Imamnazar in Turkmenistan across the border to Akina4 in Afghanistan. A planned 35 km continuation within Afghanistan would take the line to Andkhoy.

In the longer term, this line would be extended though northern Afghanistan to Tajikistan. “Commissioning of the railway will make this route an inseparable link of the modern ramified transport and communications infrastructure in the Asian region”, Turkmenistan’s official new agency said in September 2015.5

According to Turkmenistan’s offical website Golden Age, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani recently had a telephone conversation “on the initiative of the Afghan side”. During this conversation, Ghani “expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Turkmen leader for laying a section of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway to the border of Afghanistan”.6

References

  1. Also written Atamyrat; formerly known as Kerki ↩
  2. Also written Ymamnazar, etc ↩
  3. Turkmenistan builds railway to Afghan borders, Huseyn Hasanov, Trend News Agency, 17 November 2015 ↩
  4. Also written Aqina, Acqina etc ↩
  5. President of Turkmenistan received the governmental delegation of Afghanistan, Türkmen döwlet habarlar agentligi, 17 September 2015 ↩
  6. Telephone conversation between the leaders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, The Golden Age, 9 November 2015 ↩

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.

Tajikistan trains Afghanistan Railway Authority staff

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Tajikistan provides training to the staff of Afghanistan Railway Authority

According to (100 days) work plan of the ministry and railway department of Afghanistan, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transport provides vocational trainings for the staff of Railway department.

Recently for the improvement of technical & professional capacity of staff, a short-term training program for three months provided to 30 personnel of Railway Authority in Tajikistan. The training is mostly over the operation and maintenance of railway. Other technical and vocational trainings has already been provided by Iran & China.

Railway Authority was created within the Ministry of Public Works in 1391 [=AD 2012] and the ministry is responsible to facilitate the formation as well as an independent organization Synchronized with the formation of this department, 106 km of the railways starting from Hairatan Port to Mazar-e-Sharif been constructed and every year millions tones of goods transported through this railway.

Railway’s Department have lots of infrastructure projects and with the implementation of these projects, fundamental changes will be executed in transportation system.

Source: Ministry of Public Works, 13 October 2015

Iran to Herat railway to open by March 2016?

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Mehr News Agency reports1 that Iran’s Minister for Road & Urban Development, Abbas Akhoundi, has announced that the “Khaf – Herat railway will soon become operational”.

Akhoundi met Afghanistan’s Minister of Urban Development Affairs, Sadat Mansoor Naderi, and said “the project needs to continue till the railway is connected to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China to accomplish the Silk Road railway grid from the south of Iran to China.” Akhoundi also said Iran was making efforts to organise a summit with Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China in order to reach agreement on the proposed railway.

Trend reports that the railway line to Herat will open by March (presumably 2016).2 Although we have heard “real soon now” style opening dates for the railway before…

References

  1. Khaf-Harat railway soon to become operational, Mehr News Agency, Tehran, 11 October 2015 ↩
  2. Iran-Afghanistan railway to be inaugurated by March, Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan, 11 October 2015. (Subscription required; I’ve only see the headline) ↩

Impact of land mines on the Mazar-i-Sharif railway project

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The report The Humanitarian and Developmental Impact of Anti-Vehicle Mines (PDF) discusses the problems land mines caused for the Hairatan – Mazar-i-Sharif railway construction project:

Late into the execution of the project, [anti-vehicle mines, anti-personnel mines and explosive remnants of war] were discovered. The initial assessment revealed a 3 sq km area of contamination at an estimated cost of USD 3 million to clear, which came close to matching Afghanistan’s national contribution to the project.

This pattern has been repeated in other infrastructure development projects, particularly with AVMs due their low detectability in Afghanistan. MACCA contacted development projects throughout the country in 2013 and found that a number were in hazardous areas. Out of 430 registered development projects in Afghanistan (roads, bridges, dams, rail, agriculture, electricity expansion), 71 of these projects are affected by mines and ERW, and at least 21 are heavily affected by AT mines, consisting of roughly 225 square kilometres of land.

As a result, MACCA actively encourages a sustainable and continuous process in communication with the development sector; otherwise, as in the case of the railway project, the country suffers huge financial losses that it cannot afford.

Source: The Humanitarian and Developmental Impact of Anti-Vehicle Mines, Geneva International Centre For Humanitarian Demining and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, September 2014, pages 63-64)

On pages 64-65 the report discusses the impact of mines (of the explosive variety) on the Aynak copper mining project.

Khyber Railway revival?

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Steam train in Khyber Pass

“A railway track, spanning 145 kilometers, from Peshawar to Jalalabad is likely to be laid soon. Authorities are in the process of awarding contract for this ambitious project”, reports Afghan Zaria.1

The report says the government of Pakistan’s 2015-16 budget has allocated 620m rupees for a nine-month feability study, which would involve engineers from Pakistan and Afghanistan. NESpak, Mines Construction, Mine Hart, ILF (LIK), MMBP, Usmania Associates Karachi and “a company from China” have submitted tenders. Tracklaying could begun in 2017-18.

The request for proposals was issued in March 2015.

This is not the first time a railway to Jalalabad has been proposed, but so far railways have never crossed the border from the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan.

References

Kabul New City light rail plan

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

A light rail line is included in the plans for Kabul New City, a proposed a new city 1.5 times larger than the existing one which would be developed between Bagram Airbase and Kabul International Airport.1

Accordng to Dehsabz-Barikab City Development Authority, “there is a LRT line planned on the main city road at the mid term development period”2

References

  1. The Master Plan – Strategic Plan, DCDA ↩

  2. ↩