Zahedan – Quetta railway line

Zahedan – Quetta
Zahedan Railway Station
Route length:	721.6 km
Gauge :	1676 mm ( colonial track )
Legend 721.6 Zahedan Qom – Zahedan railway line (1435 mm) Zahedan transfer station 684.2 Kacharud 660.0 Khan Mosamad Tschah 644.0 Bog 636.9 Istgah-eLandi 627.8 Mīrjāveh Iran / Pakistan 615.1 Koh-e-taftan, taftan 607.0 Juzzak (Tosqi) 599.5 Qila Safid (Alam Reg) 511 Nok Kundi Asad Gat 401 Yakmach 343 Dalbandin 263 Padag Road 179 Ahmed whale 158 Nushki 137 Kishingi 122 Galangur 96 Kirdagap 72 Sheikh Wasil 60 Kanak 48 Wali Chan to Kandahar (project) Chaman 0 Quetta 10 Sar-i-ab 24 Specand to Karachi

The Zahedan – Quetta line (also: Trans-Baluchistan Railway ) connects the Iranian and Pakistani railway networks for around 750 kilometers . It is part of the only rail link between Europe and the Indian subcontinent .

Geographical location

The line is the only rail link between Pakistan and Iran. It leads through the largely sparsely populated, desert-like area of Balochistan , which is also reflected in the fact that it has only 14 train stations in its western 553 km .

history

Quetta train station

The line was opened in sections: in 1905 initially between Quetta and Nushki . Since it was driven by the Anglo-Indian network (today: Pakistan ), it has the Pakistani broad gauge of 1676 mm (5½ feet). This section was completed in 1920. From Nushki from the traffic with was camel - caravans continued. In the middle of World War I - the British feared an attack by the allied Germans and Ottomans by Persia on their Indian colonial property - an epidemic broke out which drastically reduced the number of camels available. Thus, from the end of 1916, the construction of the railway for the Anglo-Indian military was pushed further west, initially under the name “ Nushki Extension Railway ”, in order to be able to better supply the British troops in Iran. The 92 km long section of the line from Mir Jahawk to Zahedan was one of the first rail lines in Iran. Zahedan (then: Duzdap) was reached in 1922. The cost of the section to what is now the Pakistani-Iranian border was borne by British India, while Great Britain was responsible for the construction of the railway on Persian territory.

A further construction to the west did not take place at first, because Iran did not rely on an east-west, but on a north-south connection, the Trans-Iranian Railway . By the end of the war, the British military's need for this rail link had waned. The operation between Zahedan and Nok Kundi in Pakistan was even shut down in 1931 and the tracks were dismantled to be used elsewhere. In 1935, an earthquake west of Quetta caused considerable damage to the line's railway infrastructure .

Only the Second World War seemed to revive the demand. The line was re-established as far as Zahedan and reopened on April 20, 1940, but ultimately hardly used. The main burden of supplying the British and US troops in Iran and the Soviet allies was carried by the Trans-Iranian Railway . 1948 was the year of the busiest rail traffic on the line: there were three pairs of trains per week that ran between Quetta and Ahmedwal, and one that ran the entire route between Quetta and Zahedan.

In 1967 the part of the line that was in Iran was handed over from the Pakistani railway to that of Iran. Today owned railway infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI), but the operation of the Pakistan Railways conducted (PR).

Technical Equipment

The route runs mainly in Pakistan and at its western end in Iran. Since its railway network otherwise has standard gauge , it is insofar an island operation in Iran . The border crossing is between the immediately neighboring towns of Kerman (Iran) and Taftan (Pakistan). Since re- gauging wagons are not available, all goods that are to be transported by rail must be reloaded in Zahedan . This no longer corresponds to the modern standard and leads to capacity restrictions. In Zahedan, the Zahedan – Quetta railway and the Qom – Zahedan standard-gauge railway to western Iran, which opened in 2009, each have their own terminus for passenger traffic and a joint freight station for reloading goods, which connects to the east of the standard-gauge railway station.

traffic

Today a passenger train runs twice a month after rail passenger traffic on the route was interrupted. The Taftan Express used to run here with sleeping and dining cars , then for a few years a train that only ran seated cars and ran twice a month and was usually driven as a mixed train with the cross-border container train . Efforts to reintroduce passenger transport have so far been in vain. Also, the freight was set for a while. Since June 9, 2015, it has been resumed with one pair of trains per week. It is again a container train. It operates with 24 wagons and carries non-perishable goods. If the offer is accepted, the train will also run with up to 40 cars.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information west of Nok-Kundi according to Robinson, plate 44; east of it to Mughal.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} red: Route Zahedan - Quetta . In: IBSE-Telegram 296 (July 2015), p. 7.
3. ↑ Johannes Heger: The unofficial Homepage of the Iranian Railways ( Memento of the original from December 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Owais Mughal: The Trans-Baluchistan Railway , July 2007 (accessed January 20, 2016).
5. ^ ^{A b c} Neil Robinson: World Rail Atlas . Vol. 8: The Middle East and Caucasus . 2006. p. 21, note 1.
6. ^ Hossein Ashouri: The Middle East as a strategic bridge for the east - west and north - south corridors . In: Journal of the OSJD 4/5 (2014), pp. 13-16.
7. ↑ Zahidan Passenger Train timing. In Pakistan Railway Time Table , accessed August 20, 2017
8. ↑ See: Closing the gap from Bam to Zahedan . In: Railway Gazette v. January 1, 2007.
9. ↑ HaRakevet 99 (December 2012), 99:08 Other Middle East Railways, FA Iran (iii) Traffic Developments p. 14.
10. ^ Pakistan Plans Passenger Rail Between Pakistan, Iran and Turkey . In: railway-technology.com v. August 6, 2009.

Web links

• Owais Mughal: The Trans-Baluchistan Railway , July 2007 (English, with many photos)