IRNA reports Khwaf-Herat Railway To Connect Afghanistan To Pakistan
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said on Sunday [=15 April 2007?] that the executive operations of Khwaf-Herat railway project, which is highly important to his country, started last year.
He made the remark at a press conference in Kabul during which he briefed the media on his last week’s three-day visit to Iran.
“Once this railway project is implemented, northern and southern parts of Afghanistan will be connected to Pakistan. Besides railway lines inside the country will also expand,” he said.
A press release of 27 May 2006 mentioned Iran’s President Ahmadinejad meeting wih Afghanistan’s President Karzai, when “seven agreements and memoranda of understanding on transfer of prisoners, extradition of criminals, promotion of investment, construction of the Khwaf-Herat railway as well as cooperation in cultural, judicial and economic fields are expected to be signed.”
Iran Daily had more details on 27 February 2007, and claims work has started:
KHWAF, Khorasan Razavi, Feb. 26. Construction of a railway line to link national railway network to the Afghan city of Herat began in a special ceremony here on Sunday.
Deputy head of Construction and Development Department of Railway, Airports and Ports at the Roads and Transportation Ministry told the Persian daily Qods that the railway line will extend a total length of 202 kilometers, adding that 77 kilometers of the route will be in Iran.
He said that in the year to March 2008, a plan will be undertaken to lay 125 kilometers of railway lines from the Iranian border to Herat. The railway line will start from Torbat Heidarieh Station and will be linked to the national railway via Mashhad-Bafq route. The Torbat Heidarieh-Bafq railway line which is around 12 kilometers was made operational with an average cost of four billion rials per kilometer.
The official further said the construction project of Iran-Afghanistan railway line within Iranian borders will be implemented by Nasr Institute, an affiliate to Khatamol Anbia Base, and the remaining section within Afghanistan will also be undertaken by an Iranian contractor.
The Iranian railway network stretches a total length of 8 300 km. The government has decided to modernize 5 600 km of the lines and also plans to lay out another 3 500 km of electrified railway lines. The objective is to transport 3.5 percent of the country’s total passenger and 8.5 percent of the total freight by rail. The government is interested in developing the East-West corridor.[More]