A Soviet map from 1985 showing the railway line to Kushka – Кушка – extending across the border to Towraghondi – Турагунди – in Afghanistan.
The pink and dotted line is the border, with Afghanistan to the south and west, the USSR to the north.
Towraghondi
Soviet (troop?) train at the Turkmenistan border crossing
There is a train in the backgrounds of this RIA Novosti photo of the Kushka (Serhetabat) area.
- Photo #644466:
First stage in the Soviet troop withdrawal from AfghanistanSoviet soldiers-internationalists returning home from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
Turkmenistan, Kushka. 18.10.1986, Yuriy Somov
Also of interest:
- Photo #578559:
Reproduction of “View of the Trans-Caspian Railway” sketch by artist N. Karazin. The State Historical Museum.
Russia, Moscow. 01.01.1910
Fuel discharge at rail terminals
NAPCO is a wholly Afghan-owned company that imports and distributes petroleum products all over Afghanistan
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We have built two modern trans-shipment points for discharging Rail Tank Cars (RTCs) into tanker trucks at Turghundi and Hairatan, giving NAPCO a significant competitive advantage in shipping fuel along the ‘Northern Route’ into Afghanistan
Source: Locations and Facilities, NAPCO
Meanwhile,
Presently, Gas Group imports propane gas from Turkmenistan by rail to Turghundi where there is a large 500 tonne storage facility with another 500 tonne facility in Herat. Tankers carry the gas by road from Herat through Kandahar to Kabul where there is an 800 tonne facility for storage and distribution.
Energy Solutions, Gas Group
Turghondi border photos
On Flickr is this photograph taken by Barbara and Steve Yahn on 4 May 2006 showing the Towraghondi border. I can’t tell what the locomotive is. 
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This “Turghondi” sign might also offer a definitive answer – as much as there can be one – as to how to spell the name of the place in English!
Towraghondi train photos
Some photographs by Elfstone44 showing a diesel-hauled train and a derelict carriage at Towraghondi on the border with Turkmenistan.
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And a view of the Friendship Bridge on the Uzbek border.
Russian discussion
Russian language-discussion of Afghan railways, via Google Translate
It looks like I need to find a copy of the book Выполняя Интернациональный Долг (and learn Russian).
Yes, the branch Kushka-Toragundi there a long time. I have personally seen covered freight wagons in the WCD Toragundi, when he served in Afghanistan, in 1986 and I have a small book (authorship, not mine) “In carrying out international duty”, where this branch is a little described. There an interview with a citizen of Afghanistan, a switchman employed on this road. There is in this book and excellent photo (h / b) TEM-2 diesel locomotive with a banner “Friendship with the Soviet and the Afghan people can not be undermined!
Павел Егерев 17.08.2009 01:31
Also a Ferghana article dated 4 December 2009 Why does Afghanistan need railroad?, looking at the background to the Uzbek – Afghan rail link.
The Railway Magazine, January 2010
There is a short report “Afghan railway progress” on page 91 of the January 2010 issue of The Railway Magazine.
This mentions the Asian Development Bank funding, and describes the Iran to Herat line as “stalled due to both lack of resources and border disturbances”. It reports there are 20 wagon loadings a week to Towraghondi, and 30 daily to Hayratan.
Iran to Afghanistan railway completed ‘in the next 5 years’
Afghan website Quqnoos reports on the Iran — Herat railway construction project. There is a photograph of some railway track, but it could be a stock picture rather than evidence of the work being underway.
Plans to extend the line from Herat to serve the existing railheads are mentioned.
Afghanistan’s railway project which will connect Shirkhan harbor with the western province of Herat will cost $2 billion.
The project which is planned to be completed in the next five years will connect Central Asia with Iran via Afghanistan.
Construction work on the project, from Herat to Iran, has already started. The design of the rest of the railway network from Herat to the Shirkhan commercial transit way is also in late planning stage.
The railway network which will be about 1200 km long will connect Afghanistan’s Shirkhan, Hairatan, Aqina and Torghondi commercial highways with the commercial harbors in the central Asian countries.
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Meanwhile the media in Tajikistan have reported that work has begun on a railway network which will link Klokhabad with Panjpayan, on the border with Afghanistan.
Source: Quqnoos.com 2009-01-19
Locomotive at Towraghondi
![](/images/rail/af-rail-port-in-turghundai.jpg" "Diesel locomotive at Towraghondi")
A photograph captioned Rail Port in Turghundai Border with Turkmenistan
from the Afghanistan Customs Department.
The diesel locomotive – a TEM2? – presumably belongs to Turkmen Railways.
The cross-border line from Serhetabat (Серхетабат, and formerly known as Gushgy) was built in the early 1980s – does anyone know more precisely when? It was rehabilitated in 2007 at a cost of USD550 000.
Afghan-Turkmenistan border photos
There are photographs of the railway across the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border at www.wuestenfuchs.com, the website of Norbert Ratzke of Köln who was in Herat from January to April 2004.
The pictures show a 1520 mm gauge diesel loco (half of a 2ТЭ10Л?) crossing the border, and the freight yard at Towraghondi.
- Photos of Turkmenistan railways 01
- Photos of Turkmenistan railways 02
- Afghanistan/Turkmenistan border checkpoint and warehouses
There is no railway transport in the country. At the Turkmen-Afghan border a Russian train runs about 500 meters on Afghan territory. There it is unloaded and returns to Turkmenistan.
In 2007 Turkmenistan launched a USD 550 000 programme to upgrade the line.