{"id":3929,"date":"2011-06-05T19:00:11","date_gmt":"2011-06-05T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/?p=3929"},"modified":"2011-06-05T19:00:11","modified_gmt":"2011-06-05T19:00:11","slug":"china-to-afghanistan-via-tajikstan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/china-to-afghanistan-via-tajikstan\/","title":{"rendered":"China to Afghanistan via Tajikstan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zeitschrift der OSShD<\/cite> is a magazine published six times a year in German, Russian and Chinese versions by OSJD, the Organisation for Co-Operation between Railways<\/a>. The 2\/2011 (316) issue has an article (pp1-6) “Tadjik steel railway lines – conquering the mountain peaks” by Amonullo Hukumatullo, head of Tajikistan’s national railway Rohi Ohani Tojikiston. It gives an overview of the railway company, and includes some information about proposed rail links to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

A map accompanying the OSJD article shows a proposed railway from Kashgar (Kashi) in China to Afghanistan. From Kashgar the line runs though Sary-Ta\u015fh in Kyrgyzstan (from where a branch would run north to Osh), crossing the Kyrgyzstan\/Tajikistan border near \u041a\u0430\u0440\u0430\u043c\u044b\u043a (Karamyk), meeting the existing line from \u0414\u0443\u0448\u0430\u043d\u0431\u0435 (Dushanbe) at \u0418\u043b\u044f\u043a (Ilyak?) a short distance southeast of \u0412\u0430\u04b3\u0434\u0430\u0442 (Vakhdat), then running to \u042f\u0432\u0430\u043d (Yavan?), and onwards over a line which is currently under construction<\/a>1<\/a><\/sup> to reach \u041a\u0443\u0440\u0433\u0430\u043d-\u0422\u044e\u0431\u0435 (Kurgan-Tyube, and countless other romanisations). <\/p>\n

Leaving the existing Uzbekistan to Kurgan-Tyube line at \u0414\u0436\u0430\u043b\u043e\u043b\u0456\u0434\u0434\u0456\u043d\u0430 \u0420\u0443\u043c\u0456 (Jaloliddina Rumi) a new 59 km line costing USD73.2m will run to the Tajik border post at \u041d\u0438\u0436\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u041f\u044f\u043d\u0434\u0436 (Nizhniy Panj, which is the Russian name; it’s \u041f\u0430\u043d\u04b7\u0438 \u041f\u043e\u0451\u043d (Panji Poyon) in Tajik).<\/p>\n

(There was once a 750 mm gauge line on this section of the route<\/a>, built in 1929-31 and opened in early 1932 but closed in the 1990s.2<\/a><\/sup> In 2007 a road bridge was opened over the river Amu or Panj Darya which forms the Tajik-Afghan border, called – inevitably – the “Bridge to Friendship”.)3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The map shows the railway entering Afghanistan at Shirkhan Bandar, and continuing to Kunduz. From Kunduz proposed lines are shown running south to Kabul and the Khyber Pass, with a spur to Aynak for the mine, and also west along the northern corridor to Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat and Iran. <\/p>\n

There are the usual comments in the article about transit traffic, and how a line though Afghanistan would would mean [insert name]-stan would not have not send traffic though [next door]-stan in order to reach Iran. Tajikistan currently has three sections of railway, but they run east-west and are not interconnected with each other except through Uzbekistan, and there have been claims that Uzbekistan has been delaying Tajikistan-bound traffic<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The magazine article also discusses the gauge problem, coming down in favour of 1435 mm standard gauge for the China – Iran route, rather than the 1520 mm of the existing lines Tajikistan.<\/p>\n

Here is a rough attempt at plotting the places in question on a map.<\/p>\n