Afghan railroads, past, present and future
Railway Gazette International June 2008 reports:
At a meeting with his Iranian and Afghan counterparts, the Foreign Minister of Tajikistan proposed that a railway which is planned to serve a Chinese copper mining concession at Aynak, east of Kabul, be routed through Kunduz, Panj and then to the Tajik capital Dushanbe. A line would be built up the Vakhsh River valley and onwards to Kashi in China. This route avoids the difficult Wakhan corridor.
BISNIS reports on a plan for a Railway from Tajikistan to Afghanistan
DUSHANBE, February 2006, Avesta – Construction of railroad Kolkhozobod – Nizhniy Pyanj (Tajikistan) – Kunduz (Afghanistan) will cost over $100 million. The project was elaborated by Tajik specialists and adjusted with Afghan colleagues. The project provides for two stages of the construction. The investment project was submitted to all international financial institutes and countries-donors for consideration.
Google also finds this story from 20 June 2005:
AFGHANISTAN-TAJIKISTAN: New bridge to provide key economic link
Efforts to boost the economies of both Tajikistan and Afghanistan moved one step further on Saturday, when Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai laid the foundation stone for a US-funded bridge across the Pyanzh River.
…
“In the future we will lay electricity, gas and water lines through this bridge. We also hope that next to this bridge will be built another bridge designed for the Dushanbe-Kurghonteppa-Kunduz railway,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RE) quoted Tajik President Rakhmonov as saying.