External Links

Czechoslovakian wagons for the Karkar coal mine

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The Williams Afghan Media Project has a picture in the Louis and Nancy Hatch Dupree collection of slides which shows narrow gauge coal mine wagons after delivery to Afghanistan.

The caption says These coal cars are from Czechoslavakia and are waiting for locomobile installation. The photo was taken at Pul-i-Khumri and is dated 10/1959.

The end of one wagon is marked, in English “made in Czechoslovakia”, while the ends of others say “Karkar” and writing I can’t quite read, but which may include “Afghanistan via Termez”(?). The wagons also have numbers, if anyone is into extreme wagon spotting…

There is also a photo captioned There are Coal Union lorries coming from Karkar on the right side, taken at Doab to Pul-I-Khumree in 1959.

More details of the Afghan coal mine railways.

Maps of Afghan rail projects

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The Ministry of Mines website now features a new photo gallery with some maps of proposed railways.

Map of major rail developments in Afghanistan

The National Resource Corridors map includes a Kabul to Kandahar railway “to be studied”. Historically this route was seen as a priority for developing a national rail network, but in recent years the focus has been on the more stable north of the country.

Map of national resource corridors in Afghanistan

The Regional Rail Networks map shows how things fit into the bigger picture. The Kazakhstan – Turkmenistan – Iran line paralleling the Caspian Sea appears to be absent, although recent news reports suggest part of it will open by October this year.

Map of railways in Afghanistan and surrounding countries

Railway not in use yet

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

“Hairatan-Mazar Railway Not Yet Utilised” writes Tamim Shaheer at Tolo News on 12 April 2011.

The work of the railway connecting Hairatan border with the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif has not been completed as planned. … The Afghan Ministry of Public Works said an operational team is to come to Afghanistan from the neighboring Uzbeskistan to help speed up the work.

The Ministry says the construction company is to employ 600 workers soon to complete the project so that the railway can be utilised soon.

[More…]

Soviet (troop?) train at the Turkmenistan border crossing

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

There is a train in the backgrounds of this RIA Novosti photo of the Kushka (Serhetabat) area.

  • Photo #644466: First stage in the Soviet troop withdrawal from AfghanistanSoviet soldiers-internationalists returning home from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Turkmenistan, Kushka. 18.10.1986, Yuriy Somov

Also of interest:

  • Photo #578559: Reproduction of “View of the Trans-Caspian Railway” sketch by artist N. Karazin. The State Historical Museum. Russia, Moscow. 01.01.1910

Opening of the Friendship Bridge, 1982

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The RIA Novosti news agency has various photos online, including these showing officials at the formal opening of the Friendship Bridge between the USSR and Afghanistan on 11 May 1982, and Soviet military use of the bridge.

  • Photo #481959: Secretary General of the Central Committee of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Babrak Karmal and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic Sharaf Rashidov at the opening ceremony of the highway and railroad bridge between the USSR and Afghanistan. V. Chistiakov, 11.05.1982
  • Photo #481950: Babrak Karmal, general secretary of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan and chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, at the ceremony opening a motor and railroad bridge between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan. V. Chistiakov, 11.05.1982
  • Photo #481951: Automobile and rail bridge across Amu Darya River between USSR and Afghanistan. The bridge is 816 meters long. V. Chistiakov, 11.05.1982

A Soviet freight train at Hayratan, with freight being unloaded from railway vans into custom-painted lorries:

  • Photo #660247: Unloading humanitarian aid from Soviet Union. Hairaton port. Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. V. Zupharov, 01.08.1986.

And the road at the time:

  • Photo #636884: The road from Hairaton to Kabul. V. Kiselev, 01.10.1989

The Soviet withdrawal:

  • Photo #476670: The first military convoy crosses the Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya River during the Soviet troop pullout from Afghanistan. V. Kiselev, 18.05.1988
  • Photo #482919: The last Soviet combat vehicle leaves Afghanistan. The USSR conducted a full pullout of its limited troop contingent from Afghanistan in compliance with the Geneva accords. A. Solomonov, 15.02.1989
  • Photo #482941: Back to homeland. A welcome ceremony for Soviet troops returning from Afghanistan near Termez, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic Alexander Liskin, 06.02.1989
  • Photo #644825: Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soviet troop column returns to homeland. V. Kiselev, 01.02.1989

On a railway-related subject:

  • Photo #483133: On November 1986 Moscow customs officers found 1217 of hashish in a railway container which was bound from Afghanistan to FRG. The owner of contraband goods is American company Specific International. The drug was destroyed at the training ground of the Fire Inspection Administration of the Moscow region in the presence of Soviet and foreign journalists. Yuryi Abramochkin, 13.10.1987

Border checks at Hayratan

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

TEM2 locomotive at Hayratan in Afghanistan

Members of the Afghan National Border Police listen to an instructor as they search locomotive TEM2 6773 near the Hayratan border crossing point (Photo: DVIDS, 2011-01-10).

Ready, CET, Go! A new training program begins at Afghan border

HAIRATAN, Afghanistan — Recently, soldiers of the Military Police “Mohawk” Platoon of 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion in conjunction with the Border Management Task Force trained members of Afghan National Border Police for a Contraband Enforcement Team at the Friendship Bridge border crossing in northern Afghanistan.

[Lots more]

Source: DVIDS press release, 2011-01-16

Photos from Hayratan-Logistics

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The Bildergalerie (picture gallery) section of the website of Hayratan-Logistics has some photos of Hayratan, mainly of lorries but including the Bruecke der Freundschaft (and another view).

The company has been based in Hamburg since October 2009, and specialises in the transport of goods, passenger cars and lorries from Europe to Hayratan.

One photo shows a billboard with a photo of a (US?) freight train.

Press conference on US-Uzbek relations

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Press Conference

Robert O. Blake, Jr. Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
U.S. Embassy Atrium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
February 18, 2011

[…]
Assistant Secretary Blake: […] I noted that the Unites States highly values Uzbekistan’s support for international efforts in Afghanistan, including allowing the transit of non-lethal supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, the provision of electricity to Afghanistan, and the construction of a railway line from Hairaton to Mazar-e Sharif.
[…]

Question: Are you looking at the possibility of transporting military supplies through Uzbekistan?

Assistant Secretary Blake: The supplies that are transiting through Uzbek territory are all non-lethal supplies. Once again I would like to express the appreciation of the United States for the Government of Uzbekistan’s support in this regard.

[…]

Question: What can you say about the Northern Distribution Network? And do you have any statistics on how many containers, how many tons of cargo have moved through Uzbekistan? And another question is – how much is the government of Uzbekistan paid for the transit of one container?

Assistant Secretary Blake: I’m afraid this is a bit too detailed for a non-specialist like me. I suggest you contact the Central Command. They might be able to provide some of that information. But I’m flattered that you think I might know that.

Source: US State Department, 2011-02-18