More on increased Uzbek rail tariffs at Eurasianet: “Uzbekistan: Did Karimov Tantrum Prompt NDN Transit Fee Hike?“.
External Links
Fuel discharge at rail terminals
NAPCO is a wholly Afghan-owned company that imports and distributes petroleum products all over Afghanistan
:
We have built two modern trans-shipment points for discharging Rail Tank Cars (RTCs) into tanker trucks at Turghundi and Hairatan, giving NAPCO a significant competitive advantage in shipping fuel along the ‘Northern Route’ into Afghanistan
Source: Locations and Facilities, NAPCO
Meanwhile,
Presently, Gas Group imports propane gas from Turkmenistan by rail to Turghundi where there is a large 500 tonne storage facility with another 500 tonne facility in Herat. Tankers carry the gas by road from Herat through Kandahar to Kabul where there is an 800 tonne facility for storage and distribution.
Energy Solutions, Gas Group
Friendship Bridge photos
People posing for photos around the Friendship Bridge in 2007, by “Najeebullah”.
Lenz railway study in 1928-29
The Stichting Samenwerking Afghanistan – Nederland website has some information about the 1920s plan for a rail network in Afghanistan.
Here is an attempt at translating the relevant bit, via Google Translate with some hand-editing.
King Amanullah gave German architects permission to build the new royal palaces, a number of factories and a small railway in Kabul. Later in 1928 the king asked a German railway commission headed by Berlin company Allgemeine Baugesellschaft Lenz & Co to lay a railway between Kabul, British India, Iran and the Soviet Union. This company sent Dutch engineer Adrianus van Lutsenburg Maas to Afghanistan in 1928 for construction of the railway.
Adrianus van Lutsenburg Maas worked in Afghanistan between 1928-29 as an engineer with the German company. The project failed owing to a nationwide revolt, and van Lutsenburg left Afghanistan in 1929. While in Afghanistan he kept diaries, wrote letters and took photographs of everything.
Source: Geschiedenis, Stichting Samenwerking Afghanistan – Nederland
The article (in Dutch) also has some modern photos of the locomotives at the museum in Kabul.
Presumably this listing at The Genealogy Page of Jorge Heredia and Heleen Sittig at Rootsweb is the man in question: Engineer, born 20 Dec 1893, Dantumadeel, died 10 Apr 1979, Den Haag. His material appears to be in the Netherlands’ Nationaal Archief.
Escorting freight to the border
As of August 2010, BTR expanded its services to include railway cargo escort to Afghanistan border. BTR escort specialists accompany the shipments to Galabo, Uzbekistan, the closest railway station to Afghanistan
, said Lithuanian firm Baltic Transit Rail on 29 November 2010.
More photos of the Mazar-i-Sharif railway project
Images of the Afghanistan railway at Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. 02/12/2010 by Zabi Rashidi at Demotix.
Turkmenistan plans Andkhoy line
FM: Turkmenistan helps Afghanistan to integrate into world economic system
Turkmenistan is helping Afghanistan to integrate into the global system of economic relations by developing its transport and communications infrastructure, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said.
…
The ministry added that Turkmenistan plans to construct a new railway on its territory along the border with Afghanistan. The railway could be further extended into Afghanistan to facilitate the country’s regional and interregional cooperation.
The two-kilometer “Serhetabat-Turgundi” railway line has operated for three years. The line was reconstructed by Turkmen specialists.
Turkmenistan has also made a proposal to build the “Atamurat-Imamnazar-Andkhoy” railway route, with a further extension through Afghanistan. The abovementioned infrastructure will increase the amount of available trans-border cargo flow and goods transport.
[More]
Source: Trend, 2010-12-07
SMEC’s role in the Mazar-i-Sharif railway development project
Australian professional engineering and development consultancy SMEC International Pty Ltd describes its work in Afghanistan, where it has operated since 1993. It is currently involved with the Hayrartan to Mazar-i-Sharif construction project.
This Asian Development Bank funded project involves construction of a railway line between the towns of Hairatan (located on Afghanistan’s border with Uzbekistan) and Mazar-e-Sharif (in northern Afghanistan). The 75km railway line is under construction by Uzbek Railway through a Design and Build contract. The line will save transport costs and freight time for commodities (such as fuel) and general cargo. The project is of strategic importance; it is the first phase of a proposed national rail network across Afghanistan. The network will provide transport links to Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and will substantially improve regional and international connectivity. SMEC is providing design review, procurement and construction supervision services including: review of detailed designs and subsequent approvals, procurement of civil works and materials, construction supervision including on-the-job training in engineering and project management for client staff, installation and testing of equipment and machinery, commissioning of all machinery and parts and issuance of safety certification and safety authorisations for infrastructure managers.
Source: SMEC
Russian agrees to facilitate transit traffic
NATO-Russia Council Joint Statement at the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council held in Lisbon on 20 November 2010
We, the Heads of State and Government of the NATO-Russia Council, met today in Lisbon and affirmed that we have embarked on a new stage of cooperation towards a true strategic partnership.
…
We underlined the importance of international efforts in support of the Afghan Government and in promoting regional peace and stability. In that context, the revised arrangements aimed at further facilitating railway transit of non-lethal ISAF goods through Russian territory are of particular value.
Source: NATO, 2010-11-20
Kabul to Darulaman railway in 1930
“Train en afghanistan 1930” is a photograph of the Kabul to Darulaman railway, scanned from French magazine Sciences et Voyages No. 533 of 3 April 1930 by “Jean-Pierre 60”.
The original caption says Il existe, en Afghanistan, quelques kilomètres de voies ferrées. La photographie represente une station de chemin de fer
[There are, in Afghanistan, a few kilometres of railway. The photograph shows a railway station].
The locomotive has a headlight, which doesn’t appear on earlier pictures.
