{"id":6704,"date":"2016-09-14T22:09:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T21:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/?p=6704"},"modified":"2016-09-14T22:09:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T21:09:56","slug":"freight-train-from-china-arrives-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/freight-train-from-china-arrives-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Freight train from China arrives in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"\/afghanistan\/first-china-to-afghanistan-freight-train\/\">first rail freight service from China<\/a> arrived at <a href=\"\/afghanistan\/railways\/hairatan-and-the-friendship-bridge\/\">Hairatan in Afghanistan<\/a> on 7 September 2016, having left Nantong in eastern China\u2019s Jiangsu province on 25 August 2016.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Afghanistan: Chinese freight train reaches Hairatan. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9u3YIYHC9T\">https:\/\/t.co\/9u3YIYHC9T<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8IzcjROivj\">pic.twitter.com\/8IzcjROivj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Railway Gazette (@railwaygazette) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/railwaygazette\/status\/773556847454347268\">September 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Guests at a welcoming ceremony includied the former governor of Balkh province, Mohammad Ishaq Rahguzar, and China&#8217;s ambassador.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">1st trade train entered Afghanistan from China. Regional economic cooperation is key for economic growth &amp; stability <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bszoCJXpoT\">pic.twitter.com\/bszoCJXpoT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; F-M Mellbin (@AmbMellbin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmbMellbin\/status\/773412987357003776\">September 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The same rolling stock did not run through all the way, because China uses 1435 mm standard gauge railway track while the former USSR and Afghaistan use 1520 mm (&#8220;Russian&#8221;) gauge. The containers were presumably transhipped at the break of gauge at the China-Kazakhstan border.<\/p>\n<p>The train was hauled in Afghanistan by a TEM2 diesel locomotive decorated with banners and the flags of China and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First direct cargo train from China arrived in Hairatan port of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Afghanistan?src=hash\">#Afghanistan<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pazadiradio\">@pazadiradio<\/a> pics by Mujib Habibzai <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/P8BUxGIYxm\">pic.twitter.com\/P8BUxGIYxm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Anand Shukla (@anand_shukla1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/anand_shukla1\/status\/773508905339060224\">September 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First ever train (45-wagon cargo) from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/China?src=hash\">#China<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Afghanistan?src=hash\">#Afghanistan<\/a> arrives at Hairatan near Afg-Uzbek border; took 12 days from Nantong, China.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Charles Haviland (@cfhaviland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cfhaviland\/status\/773512828917542913\">September 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">(PT) Train carried cargo of machinery &#8211; returning with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Afghan?src=hash\">#Afghan<\/a> dried fruits &amp; marble. Final railway stretch in AF built by USSR in 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Charles Haviland (@cfhaviland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cfhaviland\/status\/773513177271263232\">September 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Geopolitical significance:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First ever Cargo Train from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/China?src=hash\">#China<\/a> arrived in Hairatan Port of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Afghanistan?src=hash\">#Afghanistan<\/a> today. Gawadar port of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Pakistan?src=hash\">#Pakistan<\/a> won&#39;t longer be our only option<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Javid Faisal (@Javidfaisal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Javidfaisal\/status\/773419416621051905\">September 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There are still some technical issues:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">So much fuss abt Chinese rail arriving Hairatan.Still Hairatan not have the railway code. Still Galaba(Termez, Uzbekistan) station is used.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Your Excellency (@HarrisWadan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HarrisWadan\/status\/773510586059677696\">September 7, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first rail freight service from China arrived at Hairatan in Afghanistan on 7 September 2016, having left Nantong in eastern China\u2019s Jiangsu province on 25 August 2016. Afghanistan: Chinese freight train reaches Hairatan. https:\/\/t.co\/9u3YIYHC9T pic.twitter.com\/8IzcjROivj &mdash; Railway Gazette (@railwaygazette) September 7, 2016 Guests at a welcoming ceremony includied the former governor of Balkh province, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[40,64,79],"class_list":["post-6704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistans-railways","tag-china","tag-freight","tag-hayratan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6704","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=6704"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6714,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6704\/revisions\/6714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewgrantham.co.uk\/afghanistan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}