Herat to Kandahar railway studies commissioned

Acting Minister of Public Works Mohammad Issa Sani has signed five contracts for domestic companies to produce detailed designs for a 737.5 km railway from Herat to Kandahar.1

The contracts announced by the ministry on 6 February 2025 have a total value of 264m afghanis (about €3.5m, which doesn’t sound like very much for a major railway project!). The studies are to be completed within eight months.

Section Route Length, km Contract value, afghanis Contractor
1 Herat – Shindand 120 51 978 999 Afghan-German Construction, Road Construction and Railway Company
2 Shindand – Farah 120 45 631 267 Hask Engineering Services Company
3 Farah – Zaranj – Ghor Ghori 188.8 69 278 567 Hask Engineering Services Company
4 Ghor Ghori – Lashkargah 171 60 331 408 Arya Khan Afghan Construction, Road Construction and Logistics Services Company
5 Lashkargah – Kandahar 137.7 37 315 742 Arya Khan Afghan Construction, Road Construction and Logistics Services Company

The ministry said the start of practical work for the project would be dependent on the budget and financing.

The 1435mm gauge line from Khaf in Iran is currently being extended towards Herat. There are also ambitions to extend the 1520 mm gauge railway from Turkmenistan which currently terminates at Towraghondi onwards to Herat.2

There have been various proposals over the years for a line linking Kandahar to the 1676 mm gauge railhead at Chaman in Pakistan.

References

  1. X (Twitter) thread, Ministry of Public Works, 2025-02-06
  2. Turkmenistan – Afghanistan rail link to be extended, Railway Gazette International, 9 October 2024

Iran to Afghanistan passenger trains next year?

The railway from Khaf in Iran to Herat province is ready for passenger services, the official state news agency reports.

Bakhtar News Agency says Mustafa Rezaei, CEO of the Afghanistan Railway Development Consortium, said Rozanak passenger station is fully operational, and the establishment of police units with passport and visa checkpoints is expected to be completed in the first half of next year. The line is currently carrying two to four freight trains per weekly, transporting “export goods and equipment necessary for the railway’s development.”

Khaf-Herat Railway Line Set for Passenger Operations, Bakhtar News Agency, 2025-01-13

Kabul Mashin Khana railway

A 1916 photo of the narrow gauge railway at the workshops in Kabul:

A view on the storage yard for firewood, which is mainly used to run the steam engines of the mashinkhana. In the foreground a light railroad track with a wagon, loaded with wood. In the background two derricks with beam balances to weight the delivered wood.

Same photo as here.

Afghan-built train

Afghanistan’s National Development Corporation has unveiled a domestically made train(!). Anyone seen any details? Looks like a mining or construction train?

Turkmenistan – Towraghondi railway to be extended to Sanobar

A ceremony was held on September 11 2024 to launch work on the US$40m project to upgrade the Towraghondi freight terminal on the border with Turkmenistan and extend the 1 520 mm gauge rail link to Sanobar in Herat province.

An Afghan delegation signed bilateral agreements for Turkmenistan to lead the projects.

The first phase includes the construction of warehouses, sidings and loading and unloading facilities at Towraghondi.

The second phase will extend the railway 22 km to Sanobar (varipous spellings cited).

The long term ambition is to extend the line to Herat city.

Bridge opens

Bridge takes the Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif railway over the new canal.

Afghanistan acquires two locos

Via Google Translate, this says something the effect that a locomotive from Kazakhstan is expected to arrive in Hairatan on 30 January 2023, and a second one by 7 February. This means Afghanistan will be able to handle operations itself, without needing Uzbekistan to operate the trains.