Afghan railroads, past, present and future
The Istanbul – Tehran – Islamabad eastbound return working of last year’s westbound Economic Cooperation Organization train left Istanbul on August 2, running via Iran’s Bam – Zahedan line.
The eastbound train of vans and container wagons – seen here in Turkey – was due to arrive in Islamabad on August 13, a faster transit time than last year’s train.
Does anyone know if it successfully made it to Iran and Pakistan?
Although relations between Iran and the Soviet Union are at present friendly […] the opportunities for the Russians to make difficulties through Kabul are thus abundant, though Kabul’s rulers would have to forego the $2,00m (£1,111m) which the Shah has offered for the building of Afghanistan’s first railway line.
Hostile neighbours fuel Shah’s defence fears, David Watts, The Times, 22 May 1978, p5 (Issue 60307; col D)
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Railway Gazette International on the latest Afghan rail plans:
Afghan rail strategy takes shape
[…]
The first phase would start at Sher Khan Bandar on the Tajik border, connect at Naibabad with the 1520 mm gauge line now under construction from Uzbekistan, and continue through Mazar-i-Sharif to Herat, with the possibility of a link to the Turkmemistan Railways line at Towraghondi. A branch would run from Shirbirghan via Andkhvoy to the Aqina border crossing with Turkmenistan.
[…]
A second phase would see a Chinese-backed line built from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul, Jalalabad and Torkham, near the Khyber Pass. The long-proposed extension of Pakistan Railways’ Chaman line to Kandahar is also planned.
Source: Railway Gazette International, 2010-06-28
The Minister of Mines and “Coordinator of Cluster for Economic & Infrastructure Development” said last month that the Railway Development Program of Afghanistan plans three lines totalling 2000 km and costing $5.938 billion [presumably US dollars].
The statement says these lines would be 1435 mm (standard) gauge, designed for 25 ton axle loads, speeds of 100-160 km/h and capacity for 10-12 pairs of trains a day.
Building the northern corridor to standard gauge might make sense, however Hayratan – Mazar-i-Sharif is already being built to 1520 (Russian) gauge, and it is hard to see any possible justification for building Chaman – Kandahar to anything other than 1676 (Indian) gauge for compatibility with Pakistan.
Consultation Workshop on Railway Development Study
The “Consultation Workshop on Railway Development Study” took place at Kabul Serena Hotel. Topics of discussion included the development and acceleration the international trade, improvement of transportation networks in Afghanistan, providing competitive trade facilities and transit across Afghanistan, and the development plan of a railway that will join major trade centers of Afghanistan to neighboring countries.
His Excellency Wahidullah Shahrani, the Minister of Mines, and Coordinator of Cluster for Economic & Infrastructure Development, commented during his introduction, “Accelerating of the international trade requires the modernization of roadways and development of transport infrastructures, and, fortunately, the government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan accepted the strategic goals of regional cooperation of Central Asia which is included the development of six transport routes in the region, and three of that will extend through Afghanistan.”
“Currently under construction is 75 Km of railway between Hairatan and Mazar-e-sharef, part of the first phase of the northern corridor railway plan. The second and largest stage of this project is generating an additional 1000 Km of railway”,said Mr. Shahrani.
Mr. Shahrani added, “The government of Afghanistan has a plan to generate a 2000 Km of railway, which could join the some of the country’s major cities to our neighboring countries.”According to the Railway Development Program of Afghanistan, the first route begins from the port of Shirkhan and passes through the Kunduz and Balkh provinces, ending in Herat province. It will have two branches originating at Hairatan- Mazar, and, Andkhoi- Aqina. The second route will begin from Mazar, pass through Polikhomri, Kabul, Jalalabad, and end in Toorkham. and the third route in south of the country will begin at Spinboldak/Chaman and end in Kandahar city.
Commenting on some of the technical aspects of the railway, the Minister said, “The internal gauge of the lines is planned to be similar to 1435mm European railways, with a tonnage of 25 tons per axel and a speed of 100-160 Km per Hour. In the areas where a change of gauge is impossible, there will be special arrangements to replacement cargo. The primary capacity of the railway is 10-12 pairs of daily trains.”
The total cost of the project, including construction, engineering, environmental work, advisory services, and materials is estimated to be 5.938 billion dollars.
Attending the conference were some members of the Cabinet, members of the parliament, foreign ambassadors, representatives of European Union in Kabul, as well as some members of the private sector and international organizations.
Source: Ministry of Mines, 2010-05-23
Iran, Tajikistan Sign MoU on Railway Cooperation
(IRIB World Service) — The Foreign Ministers of Iran and Tajikistan signed a memorandum of understanding in Dushanbe concerning technical studies on how to connect Tajikistan’s railway network to that of Iran via Afghanistan.
After signing the MoU, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki spoke to reporters, and expressed hope that all parties involved and technical experts will soon begin to implement the project.
According to Mottaki, the proposed connecting railway will link rail networks in China, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan to Iran’s railway network, and the entire system will be linked to other countries through the port city of Chah Bahar, in south eastern Iran, on the shores of the Sea of Oman.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the OIC foreign ministerial summit in Dushanbe.
Source: IRIB – English Radio, 2010-05-19
Regional Summit Meeting of Afghanistan and Neighbors
The Secretary General’s statement
(Istanbul, 26th January, 2010)
[…]
In the field of transport and communication, the Secretariat is currently working on the launch of the ECO truck caravan to run from Turkey through Iran and Afghanistan to Central Asia. A wing of this truck caravan will run from Pakistan to Central Asia through Afghanistan. Such effort, if successful, will add value to Afghanistan’s competitiveness as a regional transit country with the estimated potential of 20 to 30 million tons of annual transit throughput to Central Asia, South Asia, Middle East and Europe. Similarly, in the field of railways, to enable Afghanistan’s effective exchange of goods and commodities with neighboring economies, the ECO is helping the country in connecting it to regional rail road system. Afghanistan’s railway lines are projected to run along the main regional transit routes stretching through Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia. Specifically, the rail segment en route Shirkhan-Bandar-Kondoz-Mezare Sharif-Herat is being considered for construction. It will connect Afghanistan’s rail system through that of Tajikistan with China’s railway network. A number of other projects/activities are also being worked out/planned for Afghanistan in the area of transport.
Source: Economic Cooperation Organization 2010-01-26
Afghan Railway to Draw Taliban Fire as It Boosts Economy, NATO
By Eltaf Najafizada and James Rupert
May 5 (Bloomberg) — Workers are laying track across north Afghanistan’s rolling grassland for the country’s first rail line, a project that will boost the economy, supply NATO troops and become a target for Taliban bombs.
…
“Railroads can reduce our isolation,” said Hamidullah Farooqi, a Kabul University economics professor and former transport minister, in a phone interview. “This is just the first line for a network that we hope can turn our country into a new trade route. That is what we need to create stability.”
[More…]
A Reuters report suggests that completion of the Iranian-backed railway to Herat may still be a long way off. If completion will take “another 10 years” as suggested, this could mean that little if any construction has been done so far, or that the political environment is not right.
There seems to be a general lack of hard evidence of what has been actually built for the project so far.
The new railway will not run directly from Herat to Mashhad, instead it will run from Herat to Khaf, on the existing Islamic Republic of Iran Railways branch line to Sangan. This line offers connections to Mashhad.
Iranian engineer brings roads, rail to Afghan west
…
[Ali Tavakoli Khomeini], an Iranian engineer, has built some 400 km (250 miles) of highway and railroad in western Afghanistan over the last six years, paving the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.His firm […] has just finished laying foundations for a railway that could one day link south and east Asia to the Middle East and Europe, reviving some of the most important ancient overland trade routes in the world.
It would reduce the cost of moving goods across the region to a fraction of that of highway transport, he said.
…
The project is still delayed. A final 58 km stretch to Herat province’s capital, Herat City, needs to be built by Afghanistan, according to the project’s terms, and has been held up.Tavakoli predicts it could take up to another 10 years for the railroad to be completed, linking Herat to Iran’s northeastern city of Mashad and on to Turkey.
…
He won the tender to build the railroad from the Iranian government, after it pledged some $500 million of money for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan at a donor’s conference in Japan in 2002.
[more]
Source: Reuters, 2010-04-17
Afghan news agency Pajhwok reports on 28 December 2009 that the Iran to Herat railway is being delayed.
A Google Translation from Persian suggests it is down to some kind of financing problems.
There is a photograph showing some newly laid railway track – is it the Herat line, or a generic photo?
I’ve put together a page on the project now underway to build a railway from Iran to Herat.
It’s amazing how much more information is available now compared to when I prepared the original notes on Afghan railway history – even quite ancient news reports can now be found online, and access to things like Hansard is so much easier.