Rail transport in Afghanistan

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Afghanistan Railway.svg
Border control at the entrance of a train to Afghanistan

The railway in Afghanistan currently consists of two railway lines for freight transport .

Historical approaches

19th century

Abdur Rahman Khan (1844–1901), who had been the emir of Afghanistan since 1880 , strictly rejected railroads for his country. Surrounded by Russia in the north and Great Britain in the south-east, he believed railways to be the incursions of colonialism .

Kabul – Darul-Aman railway line

It was not until the 1920s that Afghanistan received its first eight-kilometer narrow-gauge line with a gauge of 762 mm. It was built in the course of the reforms of King Amanullah Khan and led from the capital Kabul to the Darul Aman Palace , which was intended as the seat of parliament. After the fall of King Amanullah Khan in 1929, the railway system fell into disrepair. In the following years there were only a few light railways for large construction projects in Afghanistan.

First main railway connections

Friendship Bridge on the Uzbek-Afghan border

In the course of the Soviet-Afghan War , the lack of a rail link posed a significant logistical problem for the armed forces of the Soviet Union , confirming the concerns expressed by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan nearly a hundred years earlier.

In order to remedy the logistical deficit, the Soviet Union ran a stretch from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan across the Afghan border in the broad gauge of 1520 mm that is customary there . This gave the country its first international rail connections. In addition to the military transport requirements, those involved hope that the expansion of these beginnings will create a more intensive link between the economies of the Central Asian republics and that of Afghanistan.

Todays situation

Organization and operation

Railways in Afghanistan are operated by the state-run Afghan Railway Authority (AfRA). Afghanistan has been a member of the Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD) since 2015 . In Afghanistan, only freight traffic is currently carried out by rail .

At present there are two island operations in Afghanistan - based on short stretches that were laid across the border during the times of Soviet intervention - both of which are currently being expanded: a northwest network and a northeast network. The southern network, to which the capital Kabul is to be connected, currently only exists on paper due to the security situation.

Three gauges

A technical problem arises for Afghanistan in that it will form the interface for three different gauges. The states bordering on the north use the "Russian broad gauge" of 1520 mm, Pakistan uses the "Indian broad gauge" of 1676 mm and the Iranian railways use the standard gauge of 1435 mm. Various solutions to this have been published.

Gauge:

  • Iran to Herat: 1435mm
  • Towraghondi - Herat, Andchoi - Scherberghan, Hairatan - Mazar-e Sharif, Kunduz - Schirchan Bandar: 1520mm
  • Kunduz - Mazar-e Sharif - Scherberghan - Herat: 1520mm + 1676mm

Northwest Network

Railway line from Iran to Herat

In western Afghanistan, a 124 km, is long standard gauge track from the Iranian border to Herat under construction, the connection to the north-south rail of the railroad of Iran manufactures. The cost is US $ 230 million, with the majority coming from Iran and US $ 62 million from Afghanistan.

Railway line from Turkmenistan to Herat

A ten-kilometer stretch - of which about two kilometers on Afghan territory - was built from Serhetabat in Turkmenistan to Towraghondi (Torghundi) in Afghanistan in the early 1980s. After the Soviet Union withdrew, this facility fell into disrepair and was only made operational again in 2007. A state treaty was signed between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to extend the route to Herat . The Towraghondi – Herat railway line is to be 124 kilometers long. On April 4, 2016, Afghanistan commissioned a Canadian consulting company to submit proposals for the technical implementation of the project.

Railway line from Turkmenistan to Andchoi

On June 5, 2013, the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Kerki – Andchoi (“ Lapis Lazuli Railway”) railway took place. It will be built in the Turkmen track of 1520 mm. The 82-kilometer section from the Turkmen town of Kerki to the Imam Nazar border station and three kilometers further to the Afghan town of Akina was opened on November 28, 2016 by the presidents of both countries, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Ashraf Ghani . By July 2019, the route had been extended by 10 km and construction of the extension to Andchoi , 35 km, began.

Northeast Network

The northeast network radiates from Mazar-i-Sharif .

Railway line from Uzbekistan to Mazar-i-Sharif

New line between Hairatan and Mazar-i-Sharif

The first section of the line to Mazar-e Sharif was an approximately fifteen-kilometer connection from Termiz in Uzbekistan to Hairatan in Afghanistan, which was built during the Soviet invasion in the early 1980s to facilitate military supplies. The route was extended by 75 kilometers to Mazar-e Sharif airport in 2009/2010 .

Western extension to Andchoi

At the end of 2011, the Asian Development Bank provided US $ 300 million for the extension of the line to Andchoi , 225 kilometers to the west ( Mazar-i-Sharif – Andchoi railway ). There is the possibility of a further extension to Herat and the neighboring Turkmenistan. Construction should start in 2013. In fact, construction began in May 2015.

Eastern extension to Shirkhan Bandar and Tajikistan

Also in May 2015, the construction of the Mazar-i-Sharif – Shirchan Bandar railway began in an easterly direction from Mazar -i-Sharif. The route runs through Cholm and Kunduz . From Schirchan Bandar made to to the Tajik be connected railway network. The two railway lines Mazar-i-Sharif-Andchoi and Mazar-i-Sharif-Shirchan together form a possibility to route traffic from Turkmenistan, bypassing Uzbekistan to Tajikistan (and on to China). Together they are 640 km long and are financed by China - and to a lesser extent by Turkmenistan.

In 2018, the planning of a cross-border line from Kolkhozobod ( Tajikistan ), which is connected to the Tajikistan railway network, via the Pandschi Pojon , the border river Pandsch to Shirchan Bandar, is ready for construction. Construction can begin at the end of 2018. An extension to Kunduz is also being considered.

Southern network

Connection to Pakistan

There are concrete plans for the 100-kilometer-long Chaman – Kandahar railway line . This represented a continuation of the Pakistani railway line Quetta – Chaman . The line to the Pakistani border town of Chaman is to be expanded, the section to Kandahar would be a new construction. Due to the security situation in southern Afghanistan, only the section close to the border to the first Afghan town behind the border, Spin Buldak , will initially be built. That is 3.2 km from Chaman train station to the border and another 11.2 km from there to Spin Buldak. This section will be built in the broad gauge of 1676 mm used by Pakistan . The section is scheduled to go into operation in November 2017. A later extension to Kandahar is to take place in standard gauge, in Spin Buldak a lane change system is to be built.

Southern runway

In the southern part of Afghanistan, the Bamiyan – Saranj railway is being planned. It should lead via the capital Kabul and also connect Kandahar, from where Pakistan would be reached via the Chaman – Kandahar railway line . Due to the precarious security situation, there is not even a route planning in sections and it will take until at least 2017 before construction can start in sections. Kabul is not expected to have a rail connection before 2025.

Future planning

Connection of the local networks

The two northern Afghanistan networks are a 551 km long railway Scherberghan-Herat that in Sheberghan of the railway Mazar-i-Sharif Andkhol are connected branches off. To this end, a state treaty was signed between Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2018 and should be completed in 2022 or 2023.

Connection of north and south network

A connection from Pakistan via Kabul to Uzbekistan and further to China was planned. This link would promote the export of copper ore from the Aynak mine owned by the China Metallurgical Group , which was planning to build the line. However, due to the security situation in southern Afghanistan, this was initially refrained from. A connection between the north and south networks is not expected until the second half of the 2020s at the earliest.

Further projects

Within the next 25 years the Afghan government plans to connect the railway lines to a railway ring line from Herat via Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul, Kandahar and back to Herat. The railway ring would then also take on the connections to the railways of neighboring countries. The entire route network should have a length of 2,800 kilometers and cost several billion US $. The OSJD provides advice on how this goal can be achieved. The focus is on two connections of Mazar-e Sharif:

  1. Mazar-e Sharif-Herat-Kandahar-Quetta and
  2. Mazar-e Sharif – Kabul – Peshawar

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HaRakevet 96 (March 2012) - message 96:09 H, p. 14f.
  2. ^ Afghanistan . In: HaRakevet 2015/111: 09, G: Afghanistan (iv), p. 16.
  3. ↑ G. Afghanistan . In: HaRakevet 29, No. 1 = issue 108 v. March 2015, p. 27.
  4. ↑ HaRakhevet 90 (September 2010), p. 21: East-West rail connection in standard gauge between China and Iran
  5. ^ A b Walter Rothschild : Other Middle East Railways - G. Afghanistan, who is building quicker? . In: HaRakevet 95 = Vol. 25/4 (December 2011), p. 19.
  6. ^ Afghan rebuild underway . In: Railway Gazette International , July 12, 2007.  
  7. ^ Herat Line Feasibility Study . In HaRakevet 113, p. 18.
  8. ^ NN: The Lapis Lazuli Line Opens . In: HaRakevet 115 (December 2016), p. 21.
  9. ↑ red: Turkmenistan . In: IBSE telegram 313 (12/2016), p. 14; NN: The Lapis Lazuli Line Opens . In: HaRakevet 115 (December 2016), p. 21.
  10. ↑ An Agreement signed for the construction of the first Phase of the fourth section of the Khaf (Khavaf) - Herat Railway line in Afghanistan . In: OSJD Bulletin 1/2020, p. 31.
  11. ^ Afghan railway ambitions. November 4, 2011, accessed November 13, 2011 .
  12. ↑ a b c d e Afghanistan . In: HaRakevet 2015/111: 09, G (d): Afghanistan, p. 16.
  13. ^ Message from Railway Gazette International of July 18, 2018. In: HaRakevet 122 (September 2018), p. 27.
  14. ↑ See Construction of Afghan Railway launched. In: railwaygazette.com. January 27, 2010, accessed December 6, 2010 .
  15. ^ Afghanistan . In: HaRakevet 2015/111: 09, G: Afghanistan (a), p. 16.
  16. ↑ HaRakevet 104 (March 2014), p. 17, 104: 08 Other Middle East Railways, F. Turkmenistan - Afghanistan - Tadjikistan, p. 17.
  17. ↑ See Agreement signed for north-south corridor. In: railwaygazette.com. September 23, 2010, accessed December 6, 2010 .
  18. ^ Ivan Watson: "After nearly a century, a modern Afghan railroad is under construction" (see railway map). CNN, September 27, 2010, accessed January 2, 2011 .
  19. ↑ Christian Neef: The beautiful dream . In: Der Spiegel . No. 19 , 2010 ( online ).
  20. ^ NN: Republic of Uzbekistan: New Way in the Developement and Progress . In: OSJD Bulletin 3/2019, pp. 1-15 (5).