Afghan railroads, past, present and future
A photo of the railway yard at Towraghondi, the Afghan terminus of the railway from Turkmenistan.
#Afghanistan: Initial survey on Herat-Torgondai railroad launched https://t.co/0kKvYuCKAM pic.twitter.com/UzhzqQADbA
— Pajhwok Afghan News (@pajhwok) June 9, 2016
“Afghanistan’s once teeming Silk Road border town of Hairatan, a door to Central Asia, sees few travellers these days — its decline a barometer of economic depression in the country’s north”, says AFP.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Holds Seminar under the Theme of “One Belt and One Road”
Kabul – The Center for Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan held a one-day joint seminar with the cooperation of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China under the theme of “One Belt and One Road” chaired by the Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Hekmat Khalil Karzai with the participation of the Chinese Ambassador to Kabul and members of the Chinese Embassy, National Assembly members, researchers, Analysts, Faculty members, and Senior Official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.
Mr. Karzai stated in part of his speech: “The great Silk Road is a trade and cultural exchange route, connecting Asian, European, and African civilizations and an establishment and starting point for connection between East and West, which provides a great opportunity for exchanging science and knowledge, economy and trade, and accumulated thoughts in various parts of the world, and the value of this route’s economic, trade, cultural and political value for humanitarian development in this region has increased and become more significant in the 21st century.
Later on, the Chinese Ambassador, Mr. Yao Jing delivered his remarks on South Asia and Central Asia connectivity, economic significance of the Silk Road and Lapis Lazuli route in strengthening economy and ensuring regional peace and stability, regional economic and trade cooperation among Southern, Eastern, and Central Asian countries, raw material transfer, mining and untapped resources extraction in regional countries, and connecting countries through construction of roads and large highways.
Later on, University professor and head of ATRA, Mr. Najib Azizi, head of Center for Crisis and Peace Studies, Mr. Halimullah Kawsari, Director of Regional Cooperation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Whadidullah Waisi, former Minister of Information and Culture and Afghan-China Friendship Association head, Dr. Sayed Makhdum Rahin, and Parliament Member, Mrs. Nahid Farid delivered their remarks in this seminar respectively.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release, Afghanistan, 8 May 2016
On 4 April 2016 Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works signed a contract for Canadian consultancy Canarail to undertake a technical feasibility study for a proposed railway which would run from Herat to the Turkmenistan Railways railhead and freight yard at Torghundi.1 The study is expected to take six months to complete, with the Asian Development Bank covering the US$$1,603,500 cost.2
Contract between MoPW and Canarail International Company for economic and technical studies of Herat – Torghondi project has been signed.
H.E. Eng. Mahmoud Baligh, Minister of Public Works said “this railway project involves five countries as of China, Kazakhstan [sic; the Persian-language version of the announcement appears to say Kyrgyzstan, which would make more sense], Tajikistan, Iran and Afghanistan, which connect Asia to Europe through Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Although Afghanistan is a mountainous country & developing road network is very challenging, but to become a part of transit countries which is our historic and old vision so we have to develop the railway network to reach major economic powers, this issue for increasing domestic revenues and enhance economic growth plays a major role”.
Mentioned project takes 200 km length and will last 6 months to construct and cost $ 1.6 Million USD which is funded by Asian Development Bank.
Source: Contract of Technical and Economic studies of (Herat – Torghondi railway) has been signed, Ministry of Public Works, 5 April 2016
This seems to be referring to the Five Nations railway plan for a corridor from China to Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran. It is not clear what the 200 km refers to; Herat to the border is about 80 km in a straight line. US$1.6m might fund the technical study, but wouldn’t cover much construction work.
The gauge is not specified. Torghondi is the gateway to the 1520 mm network in the former USSR, however a 1435 mm gauge line is under construction from Iran to Herat.
In December 2013 the Ministry of Public Works had appointed Canarail and Appleton Consulting to undertake a 12-month study of the feasibility of extending the Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif railway around 225 km west to Sheberghan, Andkhoy and Aqina, and around 50 km northeast to the border with Tajikistan.
During the 19th Century Great Game era there was concern in Britain that Russia might one day build a rail link from the Trans-Caspian Railway to Herat, which it was feared would be a useful base for any Russian advance on India. British strategists – serious and armchair – debated the merits of building a railway to Kandahar as a counter-move. It was reported that the Russians had a stockpile of railway materials at Kushka (now Serhetabat) which would have enabled them to build a line to Herat in a hurry, and the British set up a supply depot at Chaman on the Indian frontier containing the track components which would be required for their line to Kandahar.
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.
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan still failed to reach an agreement on an Afghan segment of a regional rail link that will connect Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan (TAT regional rail line).
“Unfortunately, we have not yet signed the program document on this railway because we still have some unsolved issues with Turkmenistan,” Tajik Minister of Transport Sherali Ganjalzoda told reporters in Dushanbe on February 3.
“We have reached an agreement with Afghanistan on all issues and it just remains to coordinate some aspects with Turkmenistan,” the minister said.
According to him, the Tajik government is currently studying the document that should be signed by the sides
(more…)
Source: Tajikistan and Turkmenistan still fail to agree on Afghan segment of TAT regional rail line, Asia-Plus, 3 February 2016.
An article by traveller Jonny Blair describing crossing the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border. It includes pictures of a freight train crossing the Friendship Bridge as he walks across.
At this moment a freight train energises its way past me, just to remind me there are other people around. I briefly envisage Ringo Starr belting out a shit Thomas the Tank Engine line. This is truly off the rails though.
Two videos of walking over the Friendship Bridge:
The Asian Development Bank website has published some photos by Kabul-born documentary photographer Jawad Jalali, who “traveled across Afghanistan to capture the country’s development through his lenses”. He said “the most amazing thing for me is the railway, for the first time I was experiencing a train in our own soil and country.”
According to ADB, “an expanded railway system covering 4,425 kilometers is expected to be developed in the future and is expected to connect the majority of the country’s population centers”.
The First Meeting of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation organisation’s Railway Working Group was held on Tokyo on 24-26 November 2015. The CAREC Railway Working Group was formed after the 14th CAREC Transport Sector Coordinating Committee Meeting which was held in Ulaanbaatar on 28-29 April 2015, and aims to guide the development of a short and medium-term railway strategy for the CAREC region.
The presentations from the meeting can be downloaded from the CAREC website, and have a lot of interesting information about railways in the CAREC member countries.
Day 1 featured a presentation on the Afghanistan National Railway Plan and Way Forward by Mohammad Yamma Shams, Director General & Chief Executive Officer of the Afghanistan Railway Authority. This sets out current thinking under AfRA’s Afghanistan National Railway Plan, and the status of the various proposals for a 5500 km network.
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.
