{"id":5618,"date":"2013-12-11T20:42:48","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T20:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/?p=5618"},"modified":"2013-12-11T20:59:59","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T20:59:59","slug":"ministry-of-public-works-commissions-railway-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/ministry-of-public-works-commissions-railway-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Ministry of Public Works commissions railway study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canarail<\/a> and Appleton Consulting<\/a> are to undertake a 12-month feasibility study which will look into extending the Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif railway around 225 km west to Sheberghan, Andkhoy and Aqina, and around 50 km northeast to the border with Tajikistan.<\/p>\n

Railway Gazette<\/cite> story with more details:<\/p>\n

\n

Afghan government commissions east – west rail study<\/h3>\n

AFGHANISTAN: The Ministry of Public Works has commissioned a feasibility study for a proposed 300 km east – west railway across northern Afghanistan. <\/p>\n

\nThe C$3\u00b77m contract announced on December 11 has been awarded to Systra’s Canadian freight railway consultancy Canarail and its partner Appleton Consulting Inc, which specialises in programme management for projects in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

[More at RailwayGazette.com…<\/a>]\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Canarail announcement:<\/p>\n

\n

CANARAIL SIGNS A $3.7 MILLION DEAL IN AFGHANISTAN<\/h3>\n

Canadian Rail Specialist signs a contract with the Ministry of Public Works of Afghanistan
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Montreal, CANADA, December 10, 2013 – CANARAIL\u2019s President and CEO, Mr. Miguel Valero, is proud to announce, along with its Kabul-based partner Appleton Consulting Inc., the signing of a contract with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to carry out a 300 km railway feasibility study in Northern Afghanistan. Funding for this project comes from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).<\/p>\n

\nBuilding on the conclusions and recommendations of ADB\u2019s Railway Development Study and with the objective to extend the now operational Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif Railway, the Government contemplates the construction of a railway heading west from Mazar-e-Sharif through Sheberghan and Andkhoy to Acqina to link with Turkmenistan, and of another railway heading northeast from Mazar-e-Sharif to the border with Tajikistan.<\/p>\n

\nIf proved feasible, the extension of the existing railway in both east and west directions will foster cross border and regional trade, increase rail usage, ensure the viability of the initial railway investment, and introduce competition in rail operations.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAfghanistan has a vast potential for developing the mineral extraction sector, which may be an engine of self-sustaining economic growth in the near future. The decision to award this study to CANARAIL is another demonstration that we stand as a strong and reliable source of expertise for railway matters all over the world. We are very proud to become \u00a0Afghanistan and Asian Development Bank\u2019s partner in identifying long term solutions for rail transportation in Afghanistan and in the region and to act as a platform for economic growth.\u201d said Mr. Valero who is just coming back from Kabul where he finalized the contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

\nCANARAIL possesses a unique expertise in rail transport, with a strong focus on heavy haul and mining sectors. Its experts have participated in major projects on an international scale over the last 20 years, contributing to the completion of some of the most important railway projects worldwide.<\/p>\n

\nDespite its vast international experience and track record in the provision of rail services, this is CANARAIL\u2019s first significant gain in Afghanistan and in the region. This success was made possible by its partnership with Appleton Consulting Inc. (ACI), a Canadian firm specialized in programme management for Afghanistan-based projects.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0ABOUT CANARAIL<\/p>\n

\nFounded in 1991, CANARAIL is a CANADA-based rail consulting and engineering firm that specializes in mining, heavy haul freight, and urban domains. CANARAIL is known for its expertise in feasibility studies, consulting, detailed design, and the supervision of construction of major projects. Over the last 21 years, CANARAIL has participated in over 500 projects in Canada, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, North America, Australia, Europe, and Latin America. CANARAIL is headquartered in Montreal and is part of the French group SYSTRA, the world’s largest rail engineering organization.<\/p>\n

\nABOUT APPLETON<\/p>\n

\nAppleton Consulting Inc. (ACI) is an international business consulting company that focuses on enabling unique business solutions for emerging and developing market sectors. Getting its start in Afghanistan in 2007, Appleton has participated in $400M USD dollars worth of projects with its clients and partners.\u00a0 Appleton has a wide range of services for its local and international clients including project management, design services, strategic partnership development, proposal writing, supply chain management, training, and environmental consulting services.<\/p>\n

Source: Canarail press release, 10 December 2013<\/a>.<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canarail and Appleton Consulting are to undertake a 12-month feasibility study which will look into extending the Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif railway around 225 km west to Sheberghan, Andkhoy and Aqina, and around 50 km northeast to the border with Tajikistan. Railway Gazette story with more details: Afghan government commissions east – west rail study AFGHANISTAN: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[12,16,239,241,238,237,114,240,165,191],"class_list":["post-5618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistans-railways","category-projects","tag-adb","tag-andkhoy","tag-appleton-consulting","tag-aqina","tag-canada","tag-canarail","tag-mazar-i-sharif","tag-sheberghan","tag-tajikistan","tag-turkmenistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=5618"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5628,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5618\/revisions\/5628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}