Herat

Iran – Herat railway to open next year?

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

There are (once again!) reports that the railway under construction between Iran and Herat will open by the next Iranian new year, that is March 2018.

Iran’s Mehr News Agency reports that Hossein Ashouri, Deputy Head of Operations at Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has said the line has now been built to the Afghan border. On the Afghan side of the border the civil works are in place but the tracks still need to be laid. Of the two construction phases on the Afghan side of the border, “foundations of one is 50% through while the figure for the other is 25%”.1

However the opening date for the line has long been a bit of a moving target, having been announced in previous years.

There are various news articles drawing on the same source, with assorted photographs which may or may not show the line in question – many do not.

References

  1. Railroad to connect Iran, Afghanistan, Mehr News Agency, 25 February 2017 ↩

Tracklaying starts on Afghan section of Iran – Herat railway

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

A ceremony marks the start of tracklaying on the Afghan section of the Iran to Herat railway.

The locomotives are Islamic Repubic of Iran Railways Siemens/Mapna Iranrunnner or Safir locos.


View Larger Map

News on the Iran to Herat railway

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Some news reports on the railway from Khaf in Iran to Herat in Afghanistan have appeared, although I can’t spot English-language versions.

Using Google Translate, I think the Fars News report about progress with the railway says that the 76.8 km from Khaf to the border has been finished. It is suitable for 160 km/h passenger and 120 km/h freight trains, and services could start in October[?].

A BBC Persian article possibly says that Iran’s consul general in Herat, Mahmoud Afkhami Rashidi, has said that [construction, track-laying?] work on the Iranian border to Ghurian third section of the railway will resume after Eid al-Fitr [6 July 2016]. The fourth stage of the line will be built by the Afghan[?] government and take the line to an industrial area in Herat[?]. The governments of Afghanistan and Iran have recently held talks about security and technical co-ordination for the construction of the line.

Herat to Torghundi railway study comissioned

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

On 4 April 2016 Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Works signed a contract for Canarail to undertake a technical feasibility study for a railway from Herat to Torghundi

On 4 April 2016 Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works signed a contract for Canadian consultancy Canarail to undertake a technical feasibility study for a proposed railway which would run from Herat to the Turkmenistan Railways railhead and freight yard at Torghundi.1 The study is expected to take six months to complete, with the Asian Development Bank covering the US$$1,603,500 cost.2

Contract between MoPW and Canarail International Company for economic and technical studies of Herat – Torghondi project has been signed.

H.E. Eng. Mahmoud Baligh, Minister of Public Works said “this railway project involves five countries as of China, Kazakhstan [sic; the Persian-language version of the announcement appears to say Kyrgyzstan, which would make more sense], Tajikistan, Iran and Afghanistan, which connect Asia to Europe through Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Although Afghanistan is a mountainous country & developing road network is very challenging, but to become a part of transit countries which is our historic and old vision so we have to develop the railway network to reach major economic powers, this issue for increasing domestic revenues and enhance economic growth plays a major role”.

Mentioned project takes 200 km length and will last 6 months to construct and cost $ 1.6 Million USD which is funded by Asian Development Bank.

Source: Contract of Technical and Economic studies of (Herat – Torghondi railway) has been signed, Ministry of Public Works, 5 April 2016

This seems to be referring to the Five Nations railway plan for a corridor from China to Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran. It is not clear what the 200 km refers to; Herat to the border is about 80 km in a straight line. US$1.6m might fund the technical study, but wouldn’t cover much construction work.

The gauge is not specified. Torghondi is the gateway to the 1520 mm network in the former USSR, however a 1435 mm gauge line is under construction from Iran to Herat.

In December 2013 the Ministry of Public Works had appointed Canarail and Appleton Consulting to undertake a 12-month study of the feasibility of extending the Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif railway around 225 km west to Sheberghan, Andkhoy and Aqina, and around 50 km northeast to the border with Tajikistan.

Historical note

During the 19th Century Great Game era there was concern in Britain that Russia might one day build a rail link from the Trans-Caspian Railway to Herat, which it was feared would be a useful base for any Russian advance on India. British strategists – serious and armchair – debated the merits of building a railway to Kandahar as a counter-move. It was reported that the Russians had a stockpile of railway materials at Kushka (now Serhetabat) which would have enabled them to build a line to Herat in a hurry, and the British set up a supply depot at Chaman on the Indian frontier containing the track components which would be required for their line to Kandahar.

References

Herat’s influentials want the railway

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The “influentials of Herat province” have asked for the completion of various projects including the new railway, according to a 14 October 2014 announcement from the new President.

President Ahmadzai: We Will Turn Herat into a Transit City

President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai spoke this morning with the influentials of Herat province via a video conference.

At the video conference, Herat Governor and the influentials of that province congratulated President Ahmadzai on his victory in the elections and talked about their problems and demands in economic and educational arenas.

They have also asked for completion of various projects including Herat International Airport, railroad, Herat University, ring road and linking roads of the provincial center with its districts and handover of Salma dam for utilization.

[…]

President Ahmadzai hoped that Herat province would turn into a transit route and a linking brigde in Asia.

[More…]

Herat railway to open by 20 March 2013?

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Iran to invest in Afghan railways

Iran plans to invest $75mln in the construction of the Afghanistan part of Khaf-Herat railway line which is due to connect the country to Eastern Iran, a Kabul official announced on Sunday.

Afghanistan Deputy Minister of Public Works Wali Mohammad Rassouli said that the railway has been divided into four parts, two of them in Iran and the other two in Afghanistan.

“The third and fourth sections are inside Afghanistan. The third part which is 62km long will be completed by the end of this solar calendar year (on March 20, 2013) by Iran’s $75mln gratis aid,” he said, adding that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will fund the last part.

[More…]
Source: Fars News Agency, Iran, 2012-08-26

Herat railway construction and Afghan coal mining on video

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

There are downloadable MP4 format videos entitled Afghanistan Train Line, Coal Baghlan Province and Gold Mine on the website of Awaz News, “an Afghan independent news agency operating throughout Afghanistan and providing in-depth reporting to television and radio networks.”

Awaz News screenshot

On the “Economy/Infrastructures” section of the website, the “Afghanistan Train Line” (13 minutes) video includes images of bridges and construction sites, along with Iranian flags. While the commentary is not in English (presumably it is Dari – can anyone confirm?) there are some recognisable place names. From this, I think the video might well show hard evidence of construction works underway for the Iran to Herat railway. The video shows bridges and cuttings, but no sign of tracklaying or railway systems installation.

The computer generated impressions of trains are clearly not of Afghanistan – they appear to show Skoda CityElefant electric trains from the Czech Republic.

The “Gold Mine” video (12.12 minutes) has some brief railway shots, I suspect of the Karkar and Dudkash coal mines.

The mines are covered depth in the “Coal Baghlan Province” video (13.5 min) on the Natural Resources section of the Awaz News website, this video is well worth a watch if you are interested in industrial things.