Author: Andrew Grantham

Jabal Seraj cement works railway

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

In the late 1950s an industrial narrow gauge railway served a cement works at Jabal Saraj, about 60 km north of Kabul.

According to An Historical Guide to Kabul1 The little town of Jabal Seraj is built around Afghanistan’s first hydroelectric station which was installed during the reign of Amir Habibullah (r. 1901-1919) by the American engineer, A.C. Jewett. There is also a large textile mill and a cement plant at Jabal Seraj.

One final industrial installation must be mentioned here, however. This is the newly-completed cement plant at Jabal Seraj. The 100-metric ton per day mill, built under the $5 million loan extended by Czechoslovakia. in 1954, was located at Jabal Seraj after a good deal of discussion regarding the proper location of Afghanistan’s first cement plant. Surveys made by an industrial engineer on the United Nations Technical Assistance Mission had recommended that the mill be built at Pul-i-Khumri, near the Kar Kar coal mines and with abundant local supplies of good limestone and gypsum. A ready market for cement is also to be found in the Kunduz Valley. However, the Ministry of Mines and Industries decided that the Kabul market should take precedence even if it was necessary to bring coal from north of the Hindu Kush to supply the plant. A belt of semi-metamorphosed (crystalline) limestone had been located by the German firm of Kochs in the folded and faulted strata just north of Jabal Seraj where the Salang River cuts through the sedimentary formations. So the plant was assembled, a small-gauge railway constructed and a quarry opened. However, the initial supply of gypsum for the mill was brought all the way from Pul-i-Khumri, while the extremely friable coal of the Ishpushta mine, located just north of the main Hindu Kush range and near the Great North Road which follows the Bamian and Surkhab Rivers, was being trucked in over the 9800-foot Shibar Pass and over almost 125 miles of unimproved roads. At the end of February, 1958, the plant had built up a four-months supply, calculated on the basis of from 24 to 30 tons of coal per 100 tons of cement, and was just beginning to operate its limestone crushers preparatory to making the first batch of cement. Enough gypsum was on hand for six-months’ operation, calculated at three tons per 100 tons of cement. But it appeared highly desirable for the plant to develop a local source of gypsum as quickly as possible. Limestone and water are available in sufficient quantity, but the cement mill also runs the risk of a shortage of electric power since it will require 12,000 kwh per 100 tons of cement. The electricity and coal needs of the Jabal Seraj cement factory will be reconsidered under “Power Resources and Requirements” of Afghan industry in Chapter X and related to the hope of building a second Czech-financed cement mill, with a capacity of 200 metric tons per day, at Pul–i-Khumri.

lnformation on the cement plant is from an interview of February 8 1958 with Mr Puchek one of the Czechoslovakia engineers at Jabal Seraj

Source: The Kabul, Kunduz, and Helmand Valleys and the national economy of Afghanistan2

References

  1. Nancy Hatch, An Historical Guide to Kabul, (Dupree, Kabul, 2nd edition 1971), quoted at aisk.org ↩
  2. Aloys Arthur Michel, The Kabul, Kunduz, and Helmand Valleys and the national economy of Afghanistan, (National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, USA, 1959) pp70-1 ↩

Hayratan freight terminal pictures

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The Army Strong Stories website has an article Hairaton, Afghanistan – On the Uzbekistan Border by Maj. Christopher Lecron. “Containers are off-loaded at the rail yard and put on trucks. We are hoping to expand the rail line further south to reduce costs and increase efficiency.” He also has a March 24 2010 photo of the border.

Tank wagon on level crossing at Hayratan

Hairaton, Afghanistan Hopes to Move More U.S. Military Cargo

Story by Maj. Christopher Lecron
Date: 03.24.2010
Posted: 03.27.2010 01:40

HAIRATAN, Afghanistan — The mayor of Hairaton, Afghanistan and several other town logistics officials met with U.S. Air Force Major General Robert McMahon and his staff to discuss potential improvements in the cargo supply chain from Uzbekistan into Afghanistan.

Hairaton is the border crossing for a high volume of truck, rail and river barge cargo transiting into Afghanistan.

“We are always looking for additional supply routes into Afghanistan and we hope to improve the route through Hairaton with a rail line that extends all the way to Masar-e Sharif,” said McMahon. Currently, the rail line ends at Hayraton and containers are trans-loaded onto trucks for onward movement.

McMahon is the director of the Central Command Deployment and Distribution Operations Center. The agency monitors and optimizes the flow of cargo into Afghanistan. After reading daily reports of U.S. forces cargo transiting Hairaton, the team wanted to survey the town and logistics center with their own eyes. The trip included a walking tour of the rail yard, truck border crossing, and river barge site. German soldiers from nearby Camp Marmal provided a security detail for the trip.

Hikmat Rahmetov, a representative from Hapag-Lloyd, served as the subject matter expert for Hairaton logistics. Rahmetov routinely works with U.S. military agencies to transport containers by truck and rail from Hayraton into Afghanistan. Hapag-Lloyd mostly moves U.S. military cargo through Hayraton, but hopes to expand shipping to include NATO cargo as well.

With very safe, secure areas, welcoming government and commercial partners, Hayraton is an ideal place to increase the flow of re-supply into Afghanistan. The potential completion of a rail line that runs south from Hairaton would only increase the volume and efficiency of cargo flow. In addition, increased transportation requirements would create more jobs and help to fuel the local economy.

Source: DVIDS, 2010-03-24

Herat railway still some way off

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

A Reuters report suggests that completion of the Iranian-backed railway to Herat may still be a long way off. If completion will take “another 10 years” as suggested, this could mean that little if any construction has been done so far, or that the political environment is not right.

There seems to be a general lack of hard evidence of what has been actually built for the project so far.

The new railway will not run directly from Herat to Mashhad, instead it will run from Herat to Khaf, on the existing Islamic Republic of Iran Railways branch line to Sangan. This line offers connections to Mashhad.

Iranian engineer brings roads, rail to Afghan west

…
[Ali Tavakoli Khomeini], an Iranian engineer, has built some 400 km (250 miles) of highway and railroad in western Afghanistan over the last six years, paving the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

His firm […] has just finished laying foundations for a railway that could one day link south and east Asia to the Middle East and Europe, reviving some of the most important ancient overland trade routes in the world.

It would reduce the cost of moving goods across the region to a fraction of that of highway transport, he said.
…
The project is still delayed. A final 58 km stretch to Herat province’s capital, Herat City, needs to be built by Afghanistan, according to the project’s terms, and has been held up.

Tavakoli predicts it could take up to another 10 years for the railroad to be completed, linking Herat to Iran’s northeastern city of Mashad and on to Turkey.
…
He won the tender to build the railroad from the Iranian government, after it pledged some $500 million of money for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan at a donor’s conference in Japan in 2002.
[more]
Source: Reuters, 2010-04-17

King Amanullah in Berlin

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

King Amanullah in Berlin (Photo: Deutsches Bundesarchiv <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en">License</a>)

22.2.1928: Afghanischer König in Berlin is a German-language article from Deutsche Welle about King Amanullah’s visit to Berlin during his 1928 European tour.

In the 1920s a number of German engineers, doctors and other experts were Afghanistan to assist with modernisation and development.

King Amanullah’s visit was particularly significant for Germany, because it was the first state visit to the country since its defeat in World War I.

Afghanistan had remained neutral in the Great War, which was useful for Britain as this meant that some of the troops who would otherwise have been needed to defend the Northwest Frontier were available for deployment elsewhere. However the Third Afghan War took place in 1919.

While in Berlin the King drove a type A-II U-Bahn train, which led to the class being known as the Amanullah-Wagen.

Does anyone know where he drove the train – someone must have made a note of which stations he visited?

ADB article about the Hayratan railway project

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

An article from the Asian Development Bank’s Media Center about the Hayratan to Mazar-i-Sharif project – with the first photographs I’ve seen of railway construction work underway.

The ADB also has an article about railway modernisation in Uzbekistan.

Railway to Regional Integration

by Philip Wood

Photograph of railway construction works in Afghanistan

Today, as new trade routes connect landlocked Central Asia with the booming economies of South Asia and the Middle East, Afghanistan’s geographic position is proving a valuable asset.

Hairatan, Afghanistan—For centuries, Afghanistan’s strategic location has been a liability, inviting unwanted attention from countries near and far. But today, as new trade routes connect landlocked Central Asia with the booming economies of South Asia and the Middle East, Afghanistan’s geographic position is proving a valuable asset.

The bulldozers on the dusty northern plains of Hairatan attest to the fact that Afghanistan is poised to become a regional hub for trade and commerce. It is here, across the river from neighboring Uzbekistan, that the building blocks of a 75-kilometer single-line railway are being laid—thanks to a $165 million ADB grant.

Photograph of railway construction works in Afghanistan

The Hairatan border post is the gateway for almost half of Afghanistan’s road imports, but the existing transport infrastructure cannot cope with expanding trade and humanitarian relief. When completed in late 2010, the new rail line will remove the major bottlenecks that have formed at the border, quadrupling capacity and boosting regional trade.

As part of the Transport Strategy and Action Plan under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC), the project will open alternative routes of supply for national and international trade, as well as for humanitarian relief coming into Afghanistan.

The new line will connect Afghanistan to Uzbekistan’s expansive rail network. The initial segment will run between Hairatan and Mazare-e-Sharif, Afghanistan’s second largest city. Future links are planned that will run across the north to other parts of the country and region, including Herat, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

“The new train line will boost freight volumes, lower costs, and raise the profile of Afghanistan as a transit route,” said ADB Afghanistan Country Director Craig Steffensen. “In addition, Central Asian states and Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China, will be able to access world markets more cheaply and easily via Afghanistan and seaports on the Gulf, thus improving their competitiveness in world markets.”

Founded in 1997, CAREC is a partnership of eight countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; and six multilateral institutions: ADB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the World Bank.

At the heart of CAREC is a plan to develop a seamless network of transport corridors connecting member countries to one another, to fast-growing economies of East and South Asia, and to established markets in Europe and the Russian Federation.
Source: Asian Development Bank, 2010-03-30

Tajik rail link feasibility study

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Tajik leader, Asian bank official discuss energy projects, Afghanistan

[Director-General of Asian Develop Bank’s Central & West Asia Department] Juan Miranda said the ADB had been very successful in drawing up a feasibility study of a project to build several other power plants in Tajikistan, power transmission lines from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and a railway line between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, which will link with railways in Turkmenistan and Iran. […] It was also said that the construction of a regional railway had started in the part of Hayratan-Mazar-e Sharif and a feasibility study of the Tajikistan-Herat railway will be ready by this summer. …

Source: Excerpt from report by state-owned Tajik Television First Channel on 2010-03-15, quoted at PennEnergy

Tajik leader, Afghan minister mull electricity exports

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Afghan Minister of Economy Abdol Hadi Arghandiwal discussed trade and economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, in Dushanbe today.

At a meeting with journalists following the talks with the Tajik president, the Afghan minister of economy said that “during the conversation with the president, export of Tajik electricity to Afghanistan, the construction of a railway and the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the River Panj were discussed”.
[…]
According to him, at present a railway line from Iran is being constructed in Afghanistan, and it will stretch up to the Tajik Panj, where it will connect with a railway branch of Tajikistan.

Source: Avesta website, Dushanbe, in Russian 2010-03-17, quoted at Hydroworld

Wheat by rail in Afghanistan

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

There is a small photo from 2007 on the website of the Private Sector Development Directorate of Afghanistan’s Ministry Of Commerce And Industry, which shows the off-loading of wheat imported from Uzbekistan at Hayratan.

The caption says The rail-wagons carry the wheat from Uzbekistan, off-load, and return empty. In the absence of facilities in Hairaton, these wagons could be utilized to export/transit goods from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan and beyond. However, there is no formal arrangement between the two countries to allow such exports or transit of goods through Uzbekistan.

Pakistan Railways steam photos

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The April 2010 issue of British Railways Illustrated magazine has an article with lots of photographs of the Khyber Pass line taken by Gavin Morrison in the 1970s. There is a companion article about Pakistani narrow gauge in the April 2010 Railway Bylines, with basically the same text but different pictures.

The text isn’t especially detailed, being a brief description of the visit, rather than a history of the lines, but there are some very nice pictures of steam engines in action in spectacular scenery.

Sadly the Khyber Pass line is now out of action, with sections having been washed away and revival seemingly a distant prospect – unless the Chinese decide to rebuild and extend it to serve their Afghan copper mining concession at Aynak.

The 2’6″ gauge railway from Bostan to Zhob (Fort Sandeman) has closed. The track was lifted by the authorities to prevent (further) theft, although the government has announced plans to rebuild it as a 1676 mm gauge line and construct a 150 km extension to Dera Ismail Khan, cutting 400 km from the distance by rail between Quetta and Peshawar.

Elephants carrying locomotives through the Bolan Pass

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Posted by Robert Grauman at Practical Machinist is an article about railway construction during the Great Game which appeared in 15 August 1885, issue of Scientific American, having originally appeared in French magazine L’Ilustration. I guess it is now out of copyright, so I’ll post it here too.

The Bolan pass is now in Pakistan.

An English military railway

Sketch of elephants carrying dismantled railway locomotives in the Bolan Pass
“The English army has succeeded in establishing a portable railway on several points of the Bolan Pass. This railroad is of the Decauville system, formed in sections of small steel rails, which can be put down or taken up very quickly. This ingenious railway – which has been used considerably for work on the Panama Canal and for the transportation of sugar cane in Australia and Java – has become the indispensable means of transport in all wars. It is at present being used in Tonquin and Madagascar by the French army, and is also being used on the Red Sea by the Italian army. When the Russian government commenced the war in Turkestan, in 1882, it bought one hundred versts, or about 66 miles, of the Decauville railroad, which Gen. Skobeleff used with great success for the transportation of potable water and for all the provisions for his army. This railroad was taken up as the army marched forward, and when the Russians advanced recently, in Afghanistan, the little railway appeared at the advance posts, and was described to the English army by the officers who watched the operations for the Afghans. An order for a similar apparatus was given by the English government to M. Decauville, directions being given that the road should be of the same type as that furnished to the Russians. The object of this was, probably, that any sections of road which might be captured from the Russians during the war could be used by the English. In this last order there was one problem which was very difficult to solve; all the material had to be carried by elephants, and they wanted a locomotive. M. Decauville had the locomotive made in two parts, the larger of which weighed on 3,978 pounds, the greatest weight that an elephant can carry.”

“This episode of the Anglo-Russian conflict, illustrated in the annexed cut, is a great conquest for our national industry, for the works of M. Decauville are at Petit-Bourg, that is, in France, and only an hour from Paris. They cover about 20 acres on the bank of the Seine, and adjoin the P.L.M. The great hall is 525 feet long by 525 feet deep. The material is brought in at both ends (at one end the rails and steel for the road, and at the other end the sheet metal and iron for the cars), and the manufactured products are taken out at the middle, loaded in the cars of the P.L.M Co. In July, 1884, the works of Petit-Bourg attained their greatest development, with a thousand workmen, and 350 machines, which do the work of 3,000 men. Among others, there are four painting machines, which do the work of 60 painters. Three thousand cars and 93 miles of road are produced each month.”
Source: Scientific American, 15 August 1885, quoted at Practical Machinist‘s Antique Machinery and History forum 2010-02-26