Iran – Herat railway project

Posted on 29 January 2008 by Andrew Grantham

“Construction of a 191 km railway from Iran to Herat in Afghanistan, with the prospect of an extension across Afghan territory to Sher Khan Bandar, promises to stimulate trade with Central Asia.” reports Murray Hughes in the January 2008 issue of Railway Gazette International.

The current scheme was launched when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in June 2002 between the Iranian Transport Ministry and the Ministry of Public Utility in Kabul. The project was costed at US$28m and construction was split into four lots, two in Iran, and two in Afghanistan; work officially began in Iran on July 29 2006.
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It is from the penultimate loop at Khaf that the single-track line to Herat begins.

From Khaf the route heads slightly south and then east across the border through arid and rugged terrain. Total length of the new line is 191 km, of which 77 km is located in Iran and 114 km in Afghanistan. Of the 10 intermediate stations envisaged, Ghurian will be the largest intermediate town served by the section on Afghan territory.

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Preliminary investigations have been made for an extension from Herat that would run for no less than 700 km across northwestern Afghanistan to Meymaneh, Sheberghan and Sher Khan Bandar on the border with Tadzhikistan. This route would also offer the opportunity to connect with the 1 524 mm gauge line that crosses the Uzbekistan frontier near Termez, penetrating as far as Hariatan. This line is now handling trains nearly every day, mainly carrying petroleum products, machinery, building materials and agricultural produce.

You can read the full article on the Railway Gazette International website.

Iran’s Torbat-e Heydariyeh to Khaf (and one day Herat) line on TV

Posted on 11 January 2008 by Andrew Grantham

YouTube has this video from 1 March 2007, “3 TV News Reports on New Iran Railroad to Afghanistan”, about the opening of the Torbat-e Heydariyeh – Khaf railway within Iran, and a 200 km extension now under construction towards Herat in Afghanistan.

For those of us who don’t speak Persian(?), there is a translation here. Mr Mohammadizadeh, governor-general of the Province of Khorasan-e Razavi, says:

Construction work began on this railroad in the year 2002. It is 148 kilometers long. It has eight stations and cost about 50 billion tomans, fortunately it went into operation today [1 March 2007].

The primary objective in creating this line is to haul iron ore, with an annual load of about .52 million tons.

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More important is that the vital artery for the economic development of our nation with the friend and brother nation of Afghanistan will travel by way of this very railroad.

About 6 months ago inside Afghanistan the ground was broken for the Afghanistan railroad by our president of the republic’s first vice-president and today also the ground was broken for the line from Sangan to Harat inside Afghanistan.

The credits for ths project have been procured, and for the first time the culture of the railroad is coming into the friend and brother nation of Afghanistan and the nation of Afghanistan will have a train and a railroad.

It appears that the conditions that exist in Afghanistan in terms of reconstruction and the needed goods in the outside world, this railroad can be effective achieving economic development and the social welfare of the people of Afghanistan.

It can therefore be said in short that this project has great importance for the iron ore of Khaf, for the use of the people in several cities along the route and especially for establishing a railroad for government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the people of Afghanistan.
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The line that goes into operation today is 148 kilometers long, but the work is beginning on a line into Afghanistan with about 50 kilometers inside our country and about 150 kilometers inside Afghanistan. This year about 45 billion tomans have been allocated for the new line, and we are hoping that this task will be completed in the year 2007.

Khwaf to Herat rail link

Posted on 19 April 2007 by Andrew Grantham

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:

Rail Link With Herat

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]