Test train runs to Mazar-i-Sharif

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

It seems a test train ran on the Hairaton to Mazar-i-Sharif railway line on 21 December 2011.

  • There are lots of media reports using “Afghanistan opening first major train service“, an Associated Press report by Kay Johnson and Rahim Faiez.
  • The BBC reports the “seven-carriage train” ran empty:

    The first journey on Wednesday was intended to test the track and signals, before the formal opening of the project at which President Hamid Karzai is expected to attend.

    “This is a matter of pride for us and a very important issue for Afghanistan,” said Deputy Public Works Minister Noor Gul Mangal, who was there to watch the train arrive in Mazar-e-Sharif.

    He said the government planned to build another line into Turkmenistan, to the north-west.
    Afghan railway: First train runs on new line in north BBC News, 21 December 2011

  • The Financial Times says it was to carry wheat, and has a round-up of Afghan rail projects:

    Locomotives had conducted test runs on the new line but would haul their first commercial cargo on Wednesday in the form of a wheat shipment belonging to the World Food Programme, the UN relief agency, said an ADB official in Kabul.
    Afghan rail plan to boost mineral exports, Matthew Green, Islamabad, Financial Times, 20 December 2011

On the slow train

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

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

Railway project gets on track

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

An ISAF press release on the work of its Railway Advisory Team.

“Afghanistan has only 75 kilometers of railway right now” is clearly referring to the Mazar-i-Sharif line, but interestingly the release says it “is currently not operational.”

The reference to Iraq doesn’t really make it clear that Iraq had a fairly well-developed railway system, and going by comments from people who went out there, Iraqi Republic Railways did not really lack skills and knowledge, instead the local railwaymen lacked access to resources and security.

Railway project gets on track

By U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kristopher Levasseur

International Security Assistance Force Headquarters

Kabul, Afghanistan (Dec 07, 2011) – Mining minerals and raw materials is one of the most profitable businesses in the world. Whether its coal or raw metals, it’s one industry that Afghanistan cannot afford to miss out on, but in order to do that, they need a way to transport the materials.

That is where the Railway Advisory Team comes in.

“The Railway Advisory Team is here to create a railroad authority in Afghanistan much like those found in the U.S. or Europe,” said Army Maj. Timothy Christensen, International Security Assistance Force Headquarters Afghanistan Railway Advisory Team. “We are capacity building and teaching Afghans about railroading.”

The Afghanistan Railway Authority, which is waiting for approval from the Afghanistan presidential cabinet, will be set up to monitor and regulate the railway industry in the country.

“We are teaching the Afghan people from the ground up on how to run a railway and connecting them with international industries to get that extra piece of knowledge so they can become the regulators of the railways in Afghanistan,” said Christensen.

They are here to help build the infrastructure for the Afghans and teach them about the railway industry. The next step is to help them build a national rail plan for all of Afghanistan, he said.

“Afghanistan has an amazing amount of mineral wealth in the ground, a lot of it is in coal and iron ore,” said Christensen. “Those two commodities cannot be moved economically without a railroad. In order to develop Afghanistan’s economy to its fullest potential, a railroad will be necessary.”

Afghanistan has only 75 kilometers of railway right now, which is currently not operational.

This isn’t the first time this has been done in a foreign country. According to Army Maj. Scott Meyer, ISAF Headquarters Afghanistan Railway Advisory Team, this is the same concept that was put into action in Iraq. Similar practices will be put in place in Afghanistan. Currently, the Railway Advisory Team has several Afghans working with them to learn the process.

“We will eventually begin training the Afghanistan Railway Authority personnel how to plan and operate a railway,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Stokes, ISAF Headquarters Afghanistan Railway Advisory Team. “Right now we are trying to build a training plan for the ARA.”

Christensen added that eventually, the Afghans will be able to train their fellow countrymen and continue the program. “The members we will train will become the future leaders of the ARA.”

Source: Railway project gets on track, ISAF, 7 December 2011

From the Great Game to the Modern Silk Road

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

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.

Mazar-i-Sharif after transition

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

NATO TV visits Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of the northern province of Balkh, seven months after the first round of transition. Since July, Afghan forces have been fully in charge of Mazar’s security, with ISAF forces only operating in a supporting role. We talk to local people and the police chief for an update on the security situation.

Includes brief TEM2 action at 0:12.

Amanullah-Wagen trains mentioned by German President

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The President of Germany, Christian Wulff, mentioned the Berlin U-Bahn’s Amanullah-Wagen trains during a speech in Kabul on 16 October 2011.

Deutsche und Afghanen hat es schon immer zueinander gezogen. Bereits in der ersten Hälfte des vergangenen Jahrhunderts arbeiteten deutsche Ingenieure in Afghanistan, lernten Afghanen an der Amani-Schule in Kabul Deutsch. Der Besuch von König Amanullah 1928 in Berlin wurde von den Deutschen mit großer Begeisterung aufgenommen. Noch heute nennen die Berliner den U-Bahn-Zug, mit dem er damals durch Berlin fuhr „Amanullah“. Er war bis 1989 in Betrieb und Sie können das letzte Exemplar bei Ihrem nächsten Besuch in Berlin im Museum bewundern. Und in einigen Jahren wird vielleicht der Zeitpunkt kommen, gemeinsam einen neuen Zug zu benennen.

Source:Mittagessen auf Einladung von Präsident Karsai anlässlich des Staatsbesuchs in Afghanistan, Kabul, 16 October 2011