Termiz – Mazar-e Sharif railway line

Termiz – Mazar-e Sharif
Friendship Bridge: Uzbek-Afghan border
Route length:	approx. 85 km
Gauge :	1520 mm ( Russian gauge )
Legend from Dushanbe 0 Termiz Amudarja Uzbekistan / Afghanistan approx. 10 Hairatan Security guard Security guard Security guard Crossing station Security guard Security guard Security guard Crossing station Security guard Security guard Security guard Crossing station Security guard Security guard Security guard approx. 85 Mazar-e Sharif Airport (Gur-e Mar)

New line between Hairatan and Mazar-e Sharif

The Termiz – Mazar-e Sharif railway was the first cross-border railway line between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan .

Geographical location

The route leads from Termiz (Uzbekistan) first over the border river Amu Darya and the bridge of friendship to the Afghan border station Hairatan . To the south there is a desert area. As far as Naiababad the route leads south along a main road and turns west there, where the end point Gur-e Mar , 18 km east of Mazar-e Sharif , is reached.

history

Original route

In the course of the Soviet-Afghan war , the lack of a rail link to Afghanistan posed a significant logistical problem for the armed forces of the Soviet Union . In order to remedy the logistical deficit, the Soviet Union built a section of each route from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan across the Afghan border guided. The connection from Uzbekistan was about ten kilometers from Termiz to Hairatan. The border runs here in Amu Darya and for crossing the border, the Bridge of Friendship was expanded into a combined road and rail bridge, which was opened on May 12, 1982. The route was closed by Uzbekistan due to the political situation in 1996. In 2001, traffic was resumed - initially for trains with relief supplies.

renewal

The extension of the route by 75 kilometers from the Afghan border station at Hairatan to Mazar-e Sharif airport is based on an agreement between the Uzbek Railway , Afghanistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The line was built by the Uzbek Railway from the previous end of Hairatan in 10 months and opened at the end of 2010. The project cost 170 million US dollars and was funded by the Asian Development Bank with 165 million US dollars, 5 million US dollars came from the Afghan state.

Technical parameters

The single-track line is laid out in broad gauge of 1520 mm in connection with the conditions of the former Soviet railway network . It was expanded for a top speed of 80 km / h. It is about 75 km long in the Afghan part. Every 20 kilometers a crossing station with a 1.7 kilometer long siding was installed and 16 security posts were set up along the route, which both monitor the level crossings and secure the route against attacks and sabotage militarily.

business

At the end of August 2011, the Uzbek railways received an operating license for the line initially limited to three years from the Afghan government and thus formally began operating. The first test freight train ran on December 21, 2011. The line was officially inaugurated on February 3, 2012. On this day, the first commercial freight train reached Mazar-e Sharif. During the three years of Uzbek operation of the route, Afghan personnel have been trained to take over operations. Today the line is operated by the Afghan Railway Authority (AfRA) in the part on Afghan territory . Only freight trains run.

The main reason for the operation is the military transport requirement during the Afghan war . The rail connection in Afghanistan was intended to reduce the transport costs for military goods compared to air freight from around US $ 14,000 to US $ 300–500 per ton. For this purpose, it was agreed with Russia and other transit countries that the passage of corresponding trains from Western Europe will be made possible. In addition to the military transport requirements, those involved hope that the expansion of the route will create a more intensive link between the economies of the Central Asian republics and that of Afghanistan. About half of all Afghan imports came into the country via the railroad in 2011. In September 2016, a freight train from China reached Hairatan station for the first time .

future

The plan is to extend the route east to Tajikistan (see: here ) and west to Turkmenistan (see: here ). The connection to the south in the direction of Kabul is currently failing due to the security situation and is not expected before the second half of the 2020s.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ NN: Aid train reaches Afghanistan ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Railway Gazette International v. January 1, 2002.  
2. ^ ^{A b} Paul Waters: Afghanistan . In: HaRakevet 94 (September 2011), p. 10.
3. ↑ NN: message . In: HaRakevet 96:09 H (March 2012), p. 14f.
4. ^ NN: Bundeswehr in Afghanistan receives rail connection . In: Russland-Aktuell v. 17th November 2010.
5. ↑ Dave McCombs: Afghanistan's First Railroad Aims to Undermine Taliban Funding . In: Bloomberg v. October 28, 2009.
6. ↑ message . In: HaRakevet 96:09 H v. March 2012, p. 14.
7. ↑ Zabi Rashidi: Images of the Afghanistan railway at Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Demotix v. January 2, 2010 (accessed: January 2, 2011).  
8. ^ NN: Afghanistan . In: HaRakevet 2015/111: 09, G: Afghanistan, p. 16 (section: “Existing Railways”).
9. ↑ ^{a b} IBSE telegram 256 (March 2012), p. 7.
10. ^ NN: First major Afghan railway completed . In: Railway Gazette v. August 25, 2011.
11. ↑ HaRakevet 97 (June 2012), 97:08 Other Middle East Railways, B. Afghanistan, p. 13.
12. ^ NN: Afghan railway starts commercial traffic . In: Railway Gazette v. 3rd February 2012.
13. ↑ HaRakevet 96 (March 2012) - message 96:09 H, p. 14f.
14. ^ NN: Afghanistan . In: HaRakevet 2015/111: 09, G: Afghanistan (iv), p. 16.
15. ↑ NN: NATO: Making Progress on Afghanistan Rail Route ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Eurasianet v. May 4, 2008. 
16. ↑ message . In: HaRakevet 96:09 H v. March 2012, p. 14f.
17. ↑ red: Turkmenistan . In: IBSE telegram 313 (12/2016), p. 14.
18. ^ NN: Afghanistan . In: HaRakevet 2015/111: 09, G: Afghanistan, p. 16.