Call it the ultimate in military logistics. As land routes from Pakistan into Afghanistan are cut, sabotaged or otherwise interrupted, the U.S. military has developed alternative railroad routes that make the Orient Express look like a branch line.
They are called — rather prosaically — the Northern Distribution Network, or NDN. The main route begins at the port of Riga in Latvia, from where freight trains roll across Russia, and continues along the edge of the Caspian Sea. It crosses the deserts of Kazakhstan and into Uzbekistan. About 10 days after beginning their odyssey, the containers cross into Afghanistan, carrying everything from computers and socks to toilet paper and bottled water.
[More…]
Source: To Afghanistan, on the slow train, Tim Lister, CNN, 29 November 2011
External Links
From the Great Game to the Modern Silk Road
Afghan Railways: From the Great Game to the Modern Silk Road by Jared Nolan at War News Radio.
Afghanistan is at the crossroads of Central Asia–between East and South Asia, the Middle East, Russia, and Europe–and was an important stop on the Silk Road. War News Radio’s Jared Nolan uses historical perspective and geopolitics to define Afghanistan’s current transportation industry and determine what the future may hold. This is part of War News Radio’s ongoing series on the state of the Afghan economy.
Tajik-Uzbek rail dispute
Is There a Motive Behind Uzbekistan Rail Blast?, asks Myles Smith in an analysis of the Tajik-Uzbek rail dispute at “Inside the Cocoon”, 3 December 2011.
Uzbek steam loco up a mountain?
A news report about the suspected terrorist incident on the railway from Termez to Tajikistan has a photo showing what looks like a steam loco painted the colours of the in Uzbek flag, on the top of a hill. Anyone know where or what it is?
The sign on the coach on the foreground says it is going to or from Termez.
ADB funding for Uzbek electrification and Afghan project
Electrification and extension to boost Central Asian connections, Railway Gazette International, 29 September 2011.
I can’t find much hard information on exactly what is being funded in Afghanistan.
NDN politics
Uzbekistan: Does Tashkent Use an Afghan Supply Route to Tweak Russia?, a 8 September 2011 article on Wikileaks at Eurasianet.
A good point
I recently found this link to the website:
… I had an appetite for more background, and found Railways of Afghanistan. What ever did I waste my time on before the internet?Source: Silk Road, Iron Horse, Copper Wire, Airforce Amazons, 2009-12-29
Chappar Rift railway
Images of the remains of the Chappar Rift railway in Pakistan, in a video by Aurang Zaib Khan
There is a history of the line at All Things Pakistan
Central Asia railway consultancy formed
The Transportation Consulting Ltd is a newly established consulting company that specializes in provision of professional financial and engineering consulting services in the sphere of railway sector in the Republics of Central Asia. The company reflects a well matched alliance of American and Uzbek partners who have a sober ambition to participate in railway sector development in the region.
In particular, the company has a vast interest in challenging growth of goods hauled into Afghanistan as well as augmentation of existing railway logistics systems of Uzbekistan and its transit potential.
Source: Transportation Consulting
The company has addresses in New Jersey and Tashkent. Their website has a gallery of photos of construction works on the Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif railway project, including something which looks rather like a passenger halt.
TCDD hosts Afghan delegation
On 20-22 June 2011 Turkish national railway TCDD hosted a visit by Afghan officials, who saw a traffic control centre as well as locomotive and wagon maintenance and repair workshops in Ankara.