Rail transport in Afghanistan
Encyclopedia
Railways were planned in Afghanistan
since the 19th century but never completed due to the Great Game
between the Russian
and British
empires followed by the Soviets
and the Americans
. At least one rail track was built in the capital of Kabul
during the 1920s but was dismantled as Afghan leaders
resisted the railway age. Various rail projects have been proposed in recent years, to support mining projects which would drive economic growth.
Currently there is a rail service between Uzbekistan
and the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in the north. The Afghan government expects to have the line extended to Kabul and then to the eastern border town of Torkham
, connecting with Pakistan Railways
. The work is carried out by China Metallurgical Group Corporation
(MCC) and is expected to be completed by 2014. Another $350 million rail way project between Mazar-i-Sharif and Turkmenistan
is in the early phase. India
is finalising a plan to construct a 900-km railway line that will connect Chabahar
port in Iran
, being built with Indian help, to the mineral-rich Hajigak
region of Afghanistan.
s from Henschel of Kassel
in Germany
, and these were put to work on a 7 km roadside tramway linking Kabul
and Darulaman. The tramway closed (date unknown) but the locomotives still exist at Kabul museum in Darulaman. December 1922 issue of the The Locomotive magazine mentions "Travellers from Afghanistan state a railway is being laid down for a distance of some six miles from Kabul to the site of the new city of Darulaman, and also that some of the rolling stock for it is being manufactured in the Kabul workshops". The August 1928 issue of The Locomotive magazine mentions "the only railway at present in Afghanistan is five miles long, between Kabul and Darulaman".Three small steam locomotives were acquired from Henschel of Kassel in Germany.
via Sarakhs
, Herat
, and Kandahar
. When completed, the project would allow British officers to travel from London to India, mostly by rail, in 11 to 12 days (crossing the English Channel
, the Black Sea
, and the Caspian Sea
by boat).
About 1928, proposals were put forward for a railway to link Jalalabad
with Kabul, eventually connecting to the (then) Indian system at Peshawar
. Lines to join Kabul with Kandahar and Herat would follow later. Owing to political upheavals these plans were not implemented.
was built at Sarobi, east of Kabul. Three Henschel
four-wheel -gauge diesel hydraulic locos built in 1951 (works numbers 24892, 24993, 24994) were supplied to the power station.
In 1979 mining and construction locomotive builder Bedia Maschinenfabrik of Bonn
supplied five D35/6 two axle diesel-hydraulic -gauge locomotives, works numbers 150-154, to an unknown customer in Afghanistan.
The fate of these locomotives is unknown.
, surrounded by three different kinds of gauge, and yet is almost completely without railways.
Until the 21st century, there were less than 25 kilometres of railway inside the country, all of which is built to Russian gauge
. For strategic reasons
, past Afghan governments preferred to discourage the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by Britain
or Russia
.
Iran
to the west uses standard gauge
, , as does China
to the east; to the south, Pakistan
uses Indian gauge
, while to the north, the central Asian republics of Turkmenistan
, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan
use gauge.
In 2010, the gauge question was resolved so that the internal network would be initially .
approved fundings for the Afghanistan's national rail authority.
in Uzbekistan to Kheyrabad
in Afghanistan, crossing the Amu Darya
river on the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge
. In January 2010, construction began on a 75 kilometres (46.6 mi) extension line between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan; this line is also gauge as the first one built by the Soviets. By December 2010, it began carrying construction materials for other reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. The line starts from Hairatan
freight terminal to Mazar-i-Sharif Airport in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was completed and is operated by Uzbekistan's national railway Uzbekiston Temir Yullari for a three-year-term until Afghanistan's own railways department takes over. The first freight services began running in August 2011.
in Turkmenistan to the town of Towraghondi
in Afghanistan. An upgrade of this Soviet-built line began in 2007.
in Iran is a standard gauge
freight line which terminates at Mashhad
. This line is currently being extended 202 kilometers east to Herat
. On April 17, 2007 Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta
said that the executive operations of the Khaf
-Herat
railway (freight only) project had begun in 2006.
lines with steep gradient terminate on the border at Chaman
and Torkham
. In July 2010, Pakistan and Afghanistan signed a Memorandum of understanding
for going ahead with the laying of rail tracks
between the two countries. Work on the proposed project is set to start in the next four months. The rail tracks would link Quetta in Pakistan with Kandahar in Afghanistan and Peshawar in Pakistan with Jalalabad in Afghanistan.
(near the Tajik border), via Naidabad where it would connect with the 1520 mm gauge line from Uzbekistan (under construction), and then through Mazar-i-Sharif to Herat. At Herat, it would connect with the planned line from the Iranian border.
(MCC) signed an agreement with the Afghan Minister of Mines to investigate construction of a north-south railway across Afghanistan, running from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul and then to the eastern border town of Torkham
. MCC was recently awarded a copper mining concession at Mes Aynak
which would be linked to this railway. MCC is constructing a 921km long gauge railway line that will link Kabul with Uzbekistan in the north and Pakistan in the east.
port in Iran
, being built with Indian help, to the mineral-rich Hajigak
region of Afghanistan.
or Tajikistan, though a connection to the latter was proposed in 2008.
stations.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
since the 19th century but never completed due to the Great Game
The Great Game
The Great Game or Tournament of Shadows in Russia, were terms for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. The classic Great Game period is generally regarded as running approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813...
between the Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
empires followed by the Soviets
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At least one rail track was built in the capital of Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
during the 1920s but was dismantled as Afghan leaders
Politics of Afghanistan
The politics of Afghanistan consists of the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, with a president serving as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the military. The nation is currently led by the Karzai administration under President Hamid Karzai who is backed by two vice...
resisted the railway age. Various rail projects have been proposed in recent years, to support mining projects which would drive economic growth.
Currently there is a rail service between Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
and the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in the north. The Afghan government expects to have the line extended to Kabul and then to the eastern border town of Torkham
Torkham
Torkham is a border crossing town in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan and the Khyber Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, right on the Durand Line border....
, connecting with Pakistan Railways
Pakistan Railways
This article is about the rail company in Pakistan. For technical details and operations see: Transport in Pakistan.Pakistan Railways is a national state-owned rail transport service of Pakistan, head-quartered in Lahore. It is administered by the federal government under the Ministry of Railways....
. The work is carried out by China Metallurgical Group Corporation
China Metallurgical Group Corporation
China Metallurgical Group Corporation , , is a state-owned enterprise in Beijing, China, engaging in EPC , natural resources exploitation, papermaking, equipment fabrication, real estate development...
(MCC) and is expected to be completed by 2014. Another $350 million rail way project between Mazar-i-Sharif and Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
is in the early phase. India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
is finalising a plan to construct a 900-km railway line that will connect Chabahar
Chabahar
Chah Bahar is a city in and capital of Chah Bahar County, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. Chah Bahar is a free port on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. At the 2006 census, its population was 71,070, in 13,837 families...
port in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, being built with Indian help, to the mineral-rich Hajigak
Hajigak
The Hajigak Pass is situated at a height of above sea-level and is one of the two main routes from Kabul to Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, leading across the Koh-i Baba range....
region of Afghanistan.
Kabul tramway
In the 1920s, King Amanullah bought three small steam locomotiveSteam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s from Henschel of Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and these were put to work on a 7 km roadside tramway linking Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
and Darulaman. The tramway closed (date unknown) but the locomotives still exist at Kabul museum in Darulaman. December 1922 issue of the The Locomotive magazine mentions "Travellers from Afghanistan state a railway is being laid down for a distance of some six miles from Kabul to the site of the new city of Darulaman, and also that some of the rolling stock for it is being manufactured in the Kabul workshops". The August 1928 issue of The Locomotive magazine mentions "the only railway at present in Afghanistan is five miles long, between Kabul and Darulaman".Three small steam locomotives were acquired from Henschel of Kassel in Germany.
Proposed railways
Over the last century and a half, plenty of proposals have been made about building railways in Afghanistan. In 1885, the New York Times wrote about plans for connecting the Russian Transcaspian Railway, then under construction, with British IndiaBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
via Sarakhs
Sarakhs
Sarakhs is a city in and capital of Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Sarakhs was once a stopping point along the Silk Road, and in its 11th century heyday had many libraries and a famous school of architects. Much of the original city site is now just across the border at Saraghs...
, Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
, and Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
. When completed, the project would allow British officers to travel from London to India, mostly by rail, in 11 to 12 days (crossing the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
, and the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
by boat).
About 1928, proposals were put forward for a railway to link Jalalabad
Jalalabad
Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
with Kabul, eventually connecting to the (then) Indian system at Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
. Lines to join Kabul with Kandahar and Herat would follow later. Owing to political upheavals these plans were not implemented.
Industrial railways
In the 1950s a hydroelectric power stationHydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
was built at Sarobi, east of Kabul. Three Henschel
Henschel & Son
Henschel & Son was a German company, situated in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons....
four-wheel -gauge diesel hydraulic locos built in 1951 (works numbers 24892, 24993, 24994) were supplied to the power station.
In 1979 mining and construction locomotive builder Bedia Maschinenfabrik of Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
supplied five D35/6 two axle diesel-hydraulic -gauge locomotives, works numbers 150-154, to an unknown customer in Afghanistan.
The fate of these locomotives is unknown.
Rail gauge
The choice of future rail gauges in Afghanistan presents several difficulties. Afghanistan is the cross-roads of AsiaAsia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, surrounded by three different kinds of gauge, and yet is almost completely without railways.
Until the 21st century, there were less than 25 kilometres of railway inside the country, all of which is built to Russian gauge
Russian gauge
In railway terminology, Russian gauge refers to railway track with a gauge between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways it refers to gauge....
. For strategic reasons
The Great Game
The Great Game or Tournament of Shadows in Russia, were terms for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. The classic Great Game period is generally regarded as running approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813...
, past Afghan governments preferred to discourage the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by Britain
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
or Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
to the west uses standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
, , as does China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to the east; to the south, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
uses Indian gauge
Indian gauge
Indian gauge is a track gauge commonly used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Chile. It is also the gauge that is used on BART , in northern California.- Scotland :...
, while to the north, the central Asian republics of Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
use gauge.
In 2010, the gauge question was resolved so that the internal network would be initially .
Railway stations
There are currently no passenger services or stations in Afghanistan. If any of the various cross-border links are completed and opened to passenger service, new stations would have to be built.Proposed
Details of the preliminary list of stations to be served, which circle the central mountains of Afghanistan are available.National Rail Authority
The Afghan government is due to form a railway construction commission with technical cooperation provided by European commission, which was discussed in the G8 meeting in July 2011. The commission will be responsible to look after construction work of the railway networks in order to oversee the construction of a rail network within the country and their connection with the country's neighbors. In October 2011, the Asian Development BankAsian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia...
approved fundings for the Afghanistan's national rail authority.
Uzbekistan-Afghanistan rail service
In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union built an approximately 15 kilometers rail line from TermezTermez
Termez is a city in southern Uzbekistan near the border with Afghanistan.Some link the name of the city to thermos, "hot" in Greek, tracing its name back to Alexander the Great. Others suggest that it came from Sanskrit taramato, meaning "on the river bank". It is the hottest point of Uzbekistan...
in Uzbekistan to Kheyrabad
Kheyrabad, Balkh
Kheyrabad, Balkh is a village in Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan.-External links:*...
in Afghanistan, crossing the Amu Darya
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya , also called Oxus and Amu River, is a major river in Central Asia. It is formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers...
river on the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge
Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge
The Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge is a road and rail bridge across the river Amu Darya in the northern Balkh province of Afghanistan, which connects the town of Hairatan with Termez in Uzbekistan...
. In January 2010, construction began on a 75 kilometres (46.6 mi) extension line between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan; this line is also gauge as the first one built by the Soviets. By December 2010, it began carrying construction materials for other reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. The line starts from Hairatan
Hairatan
Hairatan is a border town in the north of Balkh province, Afghanistan, on the Amu Darya river. The river forms the border with Uzbekistan, and the two nations are connected by the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge. The city of Termez in Uzbekistan is close to Hairatan...
freight terminal to Mazar-i-Sharif Airport in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was completed and is operated by Uzbekistan's national railway Uzbekiston Temir Yullari for a three-year-term until Afghanistan's own railways department takes over. The first freight services began running in August 2011.
Turkmen border
A 10-kilometer long line extends from SerhetabatSerhetabat
Serhetabat is a small town in the Mary Province in Turkmenistan, located in the valley of the Kushka River. Population: 5,200 ....
in Turkmenistan to the town of Towraghondi
Towraghondi
Towraghondi is a border town in Afghanistan. It is immediately opposite Serhetabat in Turkmenistan, with which it is connected by a road and a 1520 mm gauge railway which was restored to use in 2007.- See also :*Islam Qala*Hairatan...
in Afghanistan. An upgrade of this Soviet-built line began in 2007.
Iranian border
The nearest railheadRailhead
The word railhead is a railway term with two distinct meanings, depending upon its context.Sometimes, particularly in the context of modern freight terminals, the word is used to denote a terminus of a railway line, especially if the line is not yet finished, or if the terminus interfaces with...
in Iran is a standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
freight line which terminates at Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...
. This line is currently being extended 202 kilometers east to Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
. On April 17, 2007 Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta
Rangin Dadfar Spanta
Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta was the foreign minister of Afghanistan.He was appointed to that position by Hamid Karzai during a cabinet reshuffle on March 21, 2006 and approved by the 249-seat lower house on April 20, 2006. He was previously the Senior Advisor on International Affairs to President...
said that the executive operations of the Khaf
Khaf County
Khvaf County is a county in Razavi Khorasan Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Khvaf. It is a small border town about 350 km from Mashhad....
-Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
railway (freight only) project had begun in 2006.
Pakistan border (graded routes)
Two broad gauge Pakistan RailwaysPakistan Railways
This article is about the rail company in Pakistan. For technical details and operations see: Transport in Pakistan.Pakistan Railways is a national state-owned rail transport service of Pakistan, head-quartered in Lahore. It is administered by the federal government under the Ministry of Railways....
lines with steep gradient terminate on the border at Chaman
Chaman
Chaman is the capital of Qilla Abdullah District, Balochistan, Pakistan. It is situated just south of the border with Afghanistan. Across the border in Afghanistan is the neighbouring town of Spin Boldak, in Kandahar Province...
and Torkham
Torkham
Torkham is a border crossing town in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan and the Khyber Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, right on the Durand Line border....
. In July 2010, Pakistan and Afghanistan signed a Memorandum of understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
for going ahead with the laying of rail tracks
Rail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
between the two countries. Work on the proposed project is set to start in the next four months. The rail tracks would link Quetta in Pakistan with Kandahar in Afghanistan and Peshawar in Pakistan with Jalalabad in Afghanistan.
Northern corridor
In May 2010, Afghanistan's Minister of Mines set out plans for a major new standard gauge rail corridor across northern Afghanistan; from Shir Khan BandarShir Khan Bandar
Shir Khan Bandar is a port on the Panj River in Afghanistan on the border with Tajikistan. Its old name was Qezel Qal‘eh. It was renamed after Shir Khan Nashir, Khan of the Kharoti tribe, governor of Kunduz and the rest of northern Afghanistan in the 1930s.- Transport :It is currently served via a...
(near the Tajik border), via Naidabad where it would connect with the 1520 mm gauge line from Uzbekistan (under construction), and then through Mazar-i-Sharif to Herat. At Herat, it would connect with the planned line from the Iranian border.
North-South Corridor
In September 2010, China Metallurgical Group CorporationChina Metallurgical Group Corporation
China Metallurgical Group Corporation , , is a state-owned enterprise in Beijing, China, engaging in EPC , natural resources exploitation, papermaking, equipment fabrication, real estate development...
(MCC) signed an agreement with the Afghan Minister of Mines to investigate construction of a north-south railway across Afghanistan, running from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul and then to the eastern border town of Torkham
Torkham
Torkham is a border crossing town in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan and the Khyber Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, right on the Durand Line border....
. MCC was recently awarded a copper mining concession at Mes Aynak
Mes Aynak
Mes Aynak is located 30 km southeast of Kabul, in a barren region of Logar Province; that is still considered a major transit route for insurgents coming from Pakistan. The mine could be a major boost for the Afghan economy...
which would be linked to this railway. MCC is constructing a 921km long gauge railway line that will link Kabul with Uzbekistan in the north and Pakistan in the east.
Andkhoy railway project
A framework agreement on the construction of a gauge railway line from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan was signed between Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai and Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on 28 May 2011. The railway will connect Aqina harbor with Andkhoy district in the country's northern Faryab province. Turkmenistan has taken the responsibility for the survey, design and the construction of this railway and a group of technicians will be gathered to start the work of this railway soon. The newly planned railway is part of the 126km long railway network that will start from Turkmenistan's Karki town entering Afghanistan through Aqina border and then extends 36km into Afghanistan to Andkhoy district. The railway line will be effective in boosting trade relations, as it will help grow the Afghan economy, and thus Afghanistan will gain access to Caspian sea and the European countries. The railway line will connect Afghanistan with the Turkmenistan railway network in Central Asia that finally ends in Europe.Hajigak-Chabahar railway
India is finalising a plan to construct a 900-km railway line that will connect ChabaharChabahar
Chah Bahar is a city in and capital of Chah Bahar County, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. Chah Bahar is a free port on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. At the 2006 census, its population was 71,070, in 13,837 families...
port in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, being built with Indian help, to the mineral-rich Hajigak
Hajigak
The Hajigak Pass is situated at a height of above sea-level and is one of the two main routes from Kabul to Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, leading across the Koh-i Baba range....
region of Afghanistan.
Other border links
There are no rail links to ChinaTransportation in China
Transport in China may refer to:*Transport in the People's Republic of China *Transport in Hong Kong*Transport in Macau*Transportation in Taiwan...
or Tajikistan, though a connection to the latter was proposed in 2008.
Breaks of Gauge
The initial phase of railway construction from 2010 sees the creation of five break-of-gaugeBreak-of-gauge
With railways, a break-of-gauge occurs where a line of one gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, and freight and passengers must otherwise be transloaded...
stations.
- KandaharKandaharKandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
/ - Khyber PassKhyber PassThe Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....
/ - TowraghondiTowraghondiTowraghondi is a border town in Afghanistan. It is immediately opposite Serhetabat in Turkmenistan, with which it is connected by a road and a 1520 mm gauge railway which was restored to use in 2007.- See also :*Islam Qala*Hairatan...
/ - Mazar-i-Sharif /
- Sherkhan Bandar /
Maps
See also
- Transport in AfghanistanTransport in AfghanistanTransportation in Afghanistan, which serves a population of about 29 million people, is limited and still in the developing stages. Landlocked Afghanistan has no seaports but the Amu Darya River, which forms part of the nation's border with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, does have barge...
- Khyber Pass RailwayKhyber train safariThe Khyber train safari is a railway route in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The colonial era railway route has been described as "a journey into time and history". It consists of a train pulled by two vintage steam locomotives built in 1920s that takes passengers through breathtaking and...
- Eurasian Land BridgeEurasian Land BridgeThe Eurasian Land Bridge, sometimes called the New Silk Road, is a term used to describe the rail transport route for moving freight and passengers overland from Pacific seaports in Siberia and China to seaports in Europe...
Sources
- Grantham, A. Railways in Afghanistan