Afghan railroads, past, present and future
The Spring 2006 issue of Continental Railway Journal has a couple of pages on Afghanistan by David Brice, with details of current operations on the two lines. There are 3-4 trains a day to Hayratan, worked by Uzbekistan Railways TEM2 locos, and 1-2 daily trains to Torghundi.
There is also an editorial note on the identities of the three steam engines in Darulaman.
BISNIS reports on a plan for a Railway from Tajikistan to Afghanistan
DUSHANBE, February 2006, Avesta – Construction of railroad Kolkhozobod – Nizhniy Pyanj (Tajikistan) – Kunduz (Afghanistan) will cost over $100 million. The project was elaborated by Tajik specialists and adjusted with Afghan colleagues. The project provides for two stages of the construction. The investment project was submitted to all international financial institutes and countries-donors for consideration.
Google also finds this story from 20 June 2005:
AFGHANISTAN-TAJIKISTAN: New bridge to provide key economic link
Efforts to boost the economies of both Tajikistan and Afghanistan moved one step further on Saturday, when Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai laid the foundation stone for a US-funded bridge across the Pyanzh River.
…
“In the future we will lay electricity, gas and water lines through this bridge. We also hope that next to this bridge will be built another bridge designed for the Dushanbe-Kurghonteppa-Kunduz railway,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RE) quoted Tajik President Rakhmonov as saying.
A 3 May 2005 news report from Marc Wolfensberger at Bloomberg
The government of Afghanistan plans to build its first international railway, linking the former Taliban stronghold city of Kandahar in the south, to Pakistan, said Public Works Minister Shorah Ali Safari.
Safari said in an interview today that he submitted a proposal to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet 10 days ago and “hopes”‘ the project will be approved this year for construction to start in 2006. He didn’t elaborate on financing.
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“Time has changed,”‘ said Safari, 60, speaking in the Iranian city of Mashad. “Trains are no longer used to invade countries — they’ll boost our economy and benefit our people.”‘
… Engineering studies on the planned Afghanistan railway — running 100 kilometers between Kandahar, the former base of the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, to the Pakistani border town of Chamman — have been completed, the minister said.
Construction work should be “relatively easy”‘ since the track will cross “plain territory, with no mountains and thus no tunnels to be built,” Safari said. He declined to give a time for completion.
… Beyond Pakistan, Afghanistan has “ambitious”‘ plans to develop its railway network, said the minister, who taught engineering at Kabul University in the 1960s. Feasibility studies are under way for a rail link between the western city of Herat to Iran and Turkmenistan. Another project foresees a railtrack between the northwestern city of Mazar-I-sharif and Uzbekistan, he said.
… He didn’t give details about financing the projects. He said he hasn’t contacted international financial institutions such as the World Bank, nor international private lenders.
Afghanistan Information Management Services (AIMS) has a PDF of a Major Overland Route Map into Afghanistan. Various rail and road routes in the neighbouring countries are shown.