{"id":4217,"date":"2012-05-04T21:46:49","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T21:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/?page_id=4217"},"modified":"2019-02-25T13:13:34","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T13:13:34","slug":"torghundi-and-the-railway-from-turkmenistan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/railways\/torghundi-and-the-railway-from-turkmenistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Torghundi and the railway from Turkmenistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Previous page: <a href=\"\/afghanistan\/railways\/soviet-rail-extensions-across-the-border\/\">Soviet rail extensions<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>A short section of 1520 mm gauge railway crosses the border from Serhertabat (formerly Kushka) in Turkmenistan to a freight yard at Towraghondi in Afghanistan.<br \/>\nThis is the less well known of the two Soviet-built lines in Afghanistan, being in a remote location and carrying less traffic than the <a href=\"\/afghanistan\/railways\/hairatan-and-the-friendship-bridge\">line from Uzbekistan to Hairatan<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/rail\/af-towraghondi-rail-port.jpg\" alt=\"Turkmen Railways locomotive at Towraghondi\" title=\"Rail Port in Turghundai Border with Turkmenistan (Photo: Afghanistan Customs Department)\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:smaller;\">Turkmen Railways locomotive at Towraghondi (Photo: Afghanistan Customs Department)<\/p>\n<p><!-- <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/yahninkabul\/605608780\/\" title=\"13 Turkmenistan border by barbara and steve yahn, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1339\/605608780_7ec7f32c46.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"Railway at the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border, Torghundi\" \/><\/a>.\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:smaller;\">The freight yard on the Afghan side of the border (Photo: Barbara and Steve Yahn, 4 May 2006)<\/p>\n\n --><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" marginheight=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?f=q&#038;hl=en&#038;geocode=&#038;time=&#038;date=&#038;ttype=&#038;q=Towraghondi&#038;sll=35.255546,62.277943&#038;sspn=0.00587,0.010042&#038;layer=c&#038;ie=UTF8&#038;t=h&#038;om=1&#038;ll=35.255546,62.277943&#038;spn=0.00587,0.010042&#038;output=embed&#038;s=AARTsJqUGPFIINM1KTs0u9vvoaapofpsCg\"><\/iframe><br \/><small><a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?f=q&#038;hl=en&#038;geocode=&#038;time=&#038;date=&#038;ttype=&#038;q=Towraghondi&#038;sll=35.255546,62.277943&#038;sspn=0.00587,0.010042&#038;layer=c&#038;ie=UTF8&#038;t=h&#038;om=1&#038;ll=35.255546,62.277943&#038;spn=0.00587,0.010042&#038;source=embed\" style=\"color:#0000FF;text-align:left\">View Larger Map<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n<h3>History<\/h3>\n<p>The line to Torghundi is a short extension of the <a href=\"\/afghanistan\/railways\/merv-to-kushka-railway\">strategic branch line from the Trans-Caspian railway to Kushka<\/a> (now Serhetabat), which had opened in December 1898.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-1' id='fnref-4217-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The imperial line did not cross the frontier into Afghanistan. The opening date of the short cross-border extension is unclear, <a href=\"\/afghanistan\/torghundi-railway-opening-date\/\">but it was possibly during the 1960s<\/a>.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-2' id='fnref-4217-2' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>2<\/a><\/sup>  <\/p>\n<p>If anyone can offer any information about the opening date, do <a href=\"\/afghanistan\/contact\/\">get in touch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kunar.artofwar.ru\/maps\/200k\/i41-09.jpg\" title=\"Full map at artofwar.ru\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/rail\/af-towraghondi-map1985-i41-09.jpg\" alt=\"Soviet map showing the railway from Kushka to Towraghondi\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:smaller;\">This Soviet map from 1985 shows the railway line from Kushka &#8211; \u041a\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0430 &#8211; to Towraghondi &#8211; \u0422\u0443\u0440\u0430\u0433\u0443\u043d\u0434\u0438. The pink\/dotted line is the border, with Afghanistan to the south and west and the USSR to the north.<\/p>\n<p>The road and railway run in parallel across the border, with only a short length of railway and some sidings on the Afghan side of the frontier.  <\/p>\n<p>As well as taking supplies to Soviet forces in Afghanistan after the military intervention in 1979, the railway was used during the withdrawal. The line probably fell out of use with the end of the Soviet intervention, and fell into disrepair.<\/p>\n<h3>Rehabilitation<\/h3>\n<p>On 11 July 2011 two sleeper-laying ceremonies at Towraghondi in Afghanistan and Serhetabat (the new name for Kuskha) in Turkmenistan marked the start of work to rehabilitate the cross-border railway. <\/p>\n<p>The US$550 000 cost of &#8220;full replacement of mechanisms and equipment&#8221; on around 2 km of railway was met by Turkmenistan, with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov telling Afghanistan&#8217;s President Hamid Karzai the funding was being provided &#8216;with a view to further developing and strengthening the neighbourly relations between Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, as well as providing assistance to the people of Afghanistan in reconstruction of the national economy.&#8217; <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-3' id='fnref-4217-3' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>3<\/a><\/sup>  <\/p>\n<p>Guests at the events included Afghanistan&#8217;s Public Affairs Minister Sohrab Ali Safari, Minister of Labour &#038; Social Security &#038; Disabled &#038; Shaheed [martyr] Affairs Nurmuhammet Garkyn, Governor of Herat Seyit Hoseyin Anvari and Ambassador to Turkmenistan Abdulkarim Haddam. Representatives of nearby Afghan settlements with ethnic Turkmen populations also attended, while Turkmenistan&#8217;s Minister of Railway Transport Deryaguly Muhammetguliev led the Turkmen delegation.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-4' id='fnref-4217-4' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Work to restore the railway to use was completed the same year.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-5' id='fnref-4217-5' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h3>Operations<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/holdemhill\/2238901986\/\" title=\"Yard Engine by holdemhill, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2140\/2238901986_513aae49af.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"Yard Engine\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:smaller;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/holdemhill\/2238901986\/\">Turkmenistan Railways locomotive at Torghudi<\/a>, 28 November 2007 (Photo: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/people\/holdemhill\/\">Holdemhill<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Freight trains across the border and shunting in the yard are handled by Turkmenistan&#8217;s national railway as part of its network. <\/p>\n<p>Photographs show type 2\u0422\u042d10, \u0422\u042d\u041c2 and \u0427\u041c\u042d3 (ChME3) locomotives in use. <\/p>\n<p>There are gas storage facilities at the Towraghondi terminal, and gas can be transferred from rail to road tankers.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-6' id='fnref-4217-6' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>6<\/a><\/sup> <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-7' id='fnref-4217-7' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><q>The Turkman rail branch from Mary to Torghundi handles 2\/3 full load trains (carrying 46-50 wagons) daily to the very active unloading terminal at Torghundi. Most traffic is imported to Afghanistan but there are also some exports of fruit\/vegetable traffic from Afghanistan. Some 60% of the imported traffic is Fuel oil\/LPG\/petroleum \u2013 traffics which are unsuitable for intermediate transshipment.<\/q><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size:smaller;\">Sherkhan Bandar to Herat Railway Line Pre-Feasibility Study, 2010<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-8' id='fnref-4217-8' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>8<\/a><\/sup><\/span>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There is a passenger service as far south as Kushka, but it does not run in to Afghanistan.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-4217-9' id='fnref-4217-9' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(4217)'>9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h3>Place names<\/h3>\n<p>The spelling of the place name in the Latin alphabet is very inconsistent. Here are some variants I&#8217;ve come across, and a &#8220;Turghondi&#8221; road sign which might offer a definitive answer, as much as there can be one. <\/p>\n<table border=\"1\">\n<tr>\n<th>Romanised<\/th>\n<th> Cyrillic<\/th>\n<td rowspan=\"3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/yahninkabul\/605608212\/\" title=\"Sign on the road to Turghondi (Photo: Barbara and Steve Yahn)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/rail\/af-turghondi-roadsign.jpg\"  width=\"120\" height=\"150\" alt=\"Turghondi road sign\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Kushka, Gushgy<br \/>  Serhetabat (since 1992), Sarhadabad<\/td>\n<td> \u041a\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0430<br \/> \u0421\u0435\u0440\u0445\u0435\u0442\u0430\u0431\u0430\u0442 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Turghondi, Torghondi, Towraghondi, Turghundi, Torag&nbsp;Hundi, Turgundy, Tuurgundy, Tor Ghondi,  Tor Ghondai<\/td>\n<td>\u0422\u0443\u0440\u0430\u0433\u0443\u043d\u0434\u0438<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<h3>Photographs<\/h3>\n<p>Some <a href=\"http:\/\/good-times.webshots.com\/album\/568680626BTbnwu?start=24\">photographs by Elfstone44<\/a> showing a diesel-hauled train and a derelict carriage at Towraghondi. <\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/good-times.webshots.com\/photo\/2523898440104377215myEaBq\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/thumb15.webshots.net\/t\/52\/752\/8\/98\/44\/2523898440104377215myEaBq_th.jpg\" alt=\"turghondiRR\"><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/good-times.webshots.com\/photo\/2887674570104377215jmZmsd\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/thumb15.webshots.net\/t\/66\/566\/6\/74\/57\/2887674570104377215jmZmsd_th.jpg\" alt=\"CIMG0447\"><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/good-times.webshots.com\/photo\/2731521810104377215LLgXSN\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/thumb15.webshots.net\/t\/74\/74\/5\/21\/81\/2731521810104377215LLgXSN_th.jpg\" alt=\"CIMG0448\"><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>There are more photographs at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wuestenfuchs.com\">the website of Norbert Ratzke<\/a> of K&ouml;ln who was in Herat from January to April 2004. He says <q>At the Turkmen-Afghan border a Russian [sic] train runs about 500 meters on Afghan territory. There it is unloaded and returns to Turkmenistan.<\/q> The pictures show a 1520 mm gauge diesel locomotive (half of a 2\u0422\u042d10\u041b?) crossing the border, and the freight yard at Towraghondi.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wuestenfuchs.com\/afg\/all\/kund_verbahn01.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/rail\/af-turkmenborder-wuestenfuchs-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Train at the Afghanistan - Turkmenistan border \" title=\"Train at the Afghanistan - Turkmenistan border (Photo by Norbert Ratzke)\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-522\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wuestenfuchs.com\/afg\/all\/kund_verbahn01.html\">Photos of Turkmenistan railways 01<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wuestenfuchs.com\/afg\/all\/kund_verbahn02.html\">Photos of Turkmenistan railways 02<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wuestenfuchs.com\/afg\/all\/grenze_afgtur.html\">Afghanistan\/Turkmenistan border checkpoint and warehouses<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>News<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"\/afghanistan\/tag\/towraghondi\/\">News and updates about Towraghondi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Next page: <a href=\"\/afghanistan\/railways\/hairatan-and-the-friendship-bridge\/\">Hairatan and the Friendship Bridge<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>References<\/h3>\n<div class='footnotes' id='footnotes-4217'>\n<div class='footnotedivider'><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li id='fn-4217-1'> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.railway.gov.tm\/hrono.html\">\u0425\u0440\u043e\u043d\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0433\u0438\u044f \u0441\u043e\u0431\u044b\u0442\u0438\u0439<\/a>, Ministry of Railway Transport of Turkmenistan <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-1'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-4217-2'> Frank Selman suggested to me that the railway was opened to tackle smuggling. &#8220;In the 1960s Afghan truck drivers were allowed to cross the border into Soviet Turkmenistan to unload exported cargo at Kushka station. This resulted in grand-scale smuggling and corruption, businesses in which the Afghans excel. Afghans from Herat still relish smuggling good-time stories. So the railway was extended, and all the loading and unloading took place later on at Torghundi in Afghanistan.&#8221; <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-2'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-4217-3'> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.railwaygazette.com\/nc\/news\/single-view\/view\/afghan-rebuild-underway.html\">Afghan rebuild underway<\/a>, Railway Gazette International website, 12 July 2007 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-3'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-4217-4'> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.turkmenistan.ru\/?page_id=3&#038;lang_id=en&#038;elem_id=10533&#038;type=event&#038;sort=date_desc\">Turkmenistan starts reconstruction of Afghan railway<\/a>, turkmenistan.ru, 12 July 2007 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-4'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-4217-5'> Sherkhan Bandar to Herat Railway Line Pre-Feasibility Study. Phase II Final Report Volume II Supplementary Reports ADB TA 7259 \u2013 AFG: Railway Ddevelopment Study, Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. HB Consultants. May 2010 p2-6. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-5'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-4217-6'> <a href=\"http:\/\/napco-group.com\/napco_afganistan.htm\">NAPCO Group<\/a>, Dubai\/Afghanistan. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-6'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-4217-7'> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gasgroup.af\/english\/energy.html\">Gas Group<\/a>, Afghanistan. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-7'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-4217-8'> Sherkhan Bandar to Herat Railway Line Pre-Feasibility Study. Phase II Final Report Volume II Supplementary Reports ADB TA 7259 \u2013 AFG: Railway Development Study, Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. HB Consultants. May 2010 p5-4. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-8'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-4217-9'> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fahrplancenter.com\/TurkmenRailSouth.html\">Branchlines to the south<\/a>, Fahrplancenter <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-4217-9'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Previous page: Soviet rail extensions A short section of 1520 mm gauge railway crosses the border from Serhertabat (formerly Kushka) in Turkmenistan to a freight yard at Towraghondi in Afghanistan. This is the less well known of the two Soviet-built lines in Afghanistan, being in a remote location and carrying less traffic than the line [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1491,"menu_order":72,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4217","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4217"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7267,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4217\/revisions\/7267"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}