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Rail Transport in Afghanistan
Afghan Border Police inspecting a locomotive at Hairatan, Afghanistan (2011)
Statistics
Ridership	No info
Freight	No Info
System length
Total	225 km (140 mi)
Electrified	None
Track gauge
Main	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)	107.7 km (66.9 mi)
Features
Longest bridge	Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge 816 m (2,677 ft)

Afghanistan has four railway lines in the north and northwest of the country. The first is between Mazar-i-Sharif and the border town of Hairatan in Balkh province, which then connects with Uzbek Railways of Uzbekistan (opened 2011). The second links Torghundi in Herat province with Turkmen Railways of Turkmenistan (opened 1960). The third is between Turkmenistan and Aqina in Faryab province of Afghanistan (opened in 2016), which extends south to the city of Andkhoy. The country currently lacks a passenger rail service, but a new rail link from Herat to Khaf in Iran for both cargo and passengers is under construction. Passenger service is also proposed in Hairatan – Mazar-i-Sharif section and Mazar-i-Sharif – Aqina section.

Afghanistan's rail network is still in the developing stage. The current rail lines are to be extended in the near future, the plans include lines for cargo traffic as well as passenger transportation. Afghanistan's neighbors have been improving their own railway networks during the early 21st century. The main plan is to use Afghanistan to connect by rail the four subcontinents of Asia.

History

Kabul tramway

In the 1920s, King Amanullah bought three small steam locomotives from Henschel of Kassel in Germany, which were put to work on a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge roadside railway, 7 km (4.3 mi) long, linking Kabul and Darulaman. The December 1922 issue of The Locomotive magazine includes: "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". The tramway closed (date unknown), and was dismantled in the 1940s, but as of 2004 the locomotives were held, outdoors, at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Darulaman.

Proposed railways

Over the 19th 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 India 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.

In 1930s, the Japanese Ministry of Railways proposed Eurasian high speed rail from Tokyo to Paris via Busan (through Korea Strait undersea tunnel), Beijing, Baotou, Turfan, Kashgar, Kabul, Tehran, Baghdad, Istanbul with connection to Berlin and Rome but never realised at the beginning of the World War II.

Industrial railways

In the 1950s a hydroelectric power station was built at Surobi, east of Kabul. Three Henschel four-wheel 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge diesel-hydraulic locomotives 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 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge locomotives, works numbers 150–154, to an unknown customer in Afghanistan.

Timeline

2019

• Aqina – Andkhoy railway line extension opened.

Track gauge

Until the 21st century, less than 25 km (16 mi) of railway existed inside Afghanistan, which was built to 1520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) Russian gauge. For strategic reasons, past Afghan governments averted the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by Britain or Russia. The gauges in adjacent countries were:

• Iran, to the west, and China, to the east: 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
• Pakistan, to the south and east: 1676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
• Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, to the north: 1520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in).

In 2010, the international 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) "standard gauge" was chosen to be the country's railway gauge. The Khaf-Herat railway, a joint project between Afghanistan and Iran completed in 2020, was built to that gauge. It is 130 km (81 mi) long, of which 60 km (37 mi) is in Afghanistan; the remainder is in Iran. It links Afghan with Turkey, Europe and Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf.

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 will 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 planned to form a railway construction commission with technical cooperation provided by the European Commission, which was discussed at the G8 meeting in July 2011. The commission would be responsible for supervising construction of a rail network within the country and its connection with the country's neighbors. In October 2011, the Asian Development Bank approved funding for Afghanistan's national rail authority. The Afghanistan Railway Authority has a website but, as of August 2017, there is very little on it. It does state that Afghanistan Railway Law (12 chapters and 105 clauses) was drafted in February 2013 and is awaiting approval from "relevant institutions". Training has been provided by the United States Army's Afghanistan Railroad Advisory Team (ARAT).

Current railways and future plans

Afghanistan–Uzbekistan rail service

In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union built an approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) rail line from Termez 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 km (47 mi) extension line between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan; this line is also Russian gauge as the first one built by the Soviets. The line, which starts from Hairatan to Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi International Airport in Mazar-i-Sharif, 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. By December 2010, it began carrying construction materials for other reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. The first freight services began running around August 2011.

Uzbekistan has pledged in 2018 to part fund a major 657 km (408 mi) rail link from Mazar-i-Sharif west to Herat, which could create a route from Iran via Herat to Central Asia and potentially China.

Afghanistan–Turkmenistan rail service

A 10 km-long (6.2 mi) line extends from Serhetabat in Turkmenistan to the town of Torghundi in Afghanistan. An upgrade of this Soviet-built line dating back to the 1960s, using Russian gauge, began in 2007. In April 2016, an agreement was reached for a technical feasibility study for a proposal to extend this line approximately 100 km (62 mi) to the city of Herat, where it could connect to the standard-gauge line to Iran that is being built. In accordance with earlier decisions, the line is likely to be standard gauge, with break of gauge at Torghundi. In April 2018 it was decided by the Turkmen government to build a railway from Galkynysh Gas Field in the direction of Afghanistan, towards Torghundi.

Another rail line was opened further east in November 2016, connecting Aqina in Faryab province via Ymamnazar with Atamyrat/Kerki in Turkmenistan. Work on a 58 km (36 mi) extension to Andkhoy soon began, which was completed in January 2021.

It is planned to become part of a rail corridor through northern Afghanistan, connecting it via Sheberghan to Mazar-i Sharif and on to the border with Tajikistan, although it is unclear when this will happen.

Afghanistan–Iran rail service

On May 9, 2023, the first trial run of cargo from Iran to Afghanistan via the Khaf-Herat railway was completed. This shipment included 17 wagons that transferred 655 tons of railway equipment that will be used in the further construction of the rail line. The Khaf-Herat railway is 225 kilometers long, with 140 km of the track traversing Afghanistan and the remaining 85 km running through Iran. The construction of the Khaf-Herat rail line, which links Khaf in eastern Iran with Herat in western Afghanistan, began back in 2007.

The Iranian railhead closest to the Afghan border is at Khaf near Mashhad, and this is a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge freight line. Since 2002, Afghan and Iranian officials have been working to extend this line east to Herat in Afghanistan. The line is currently operational to as far as Rozanak station in the Ghurian District of Herat Province.

The Khaf-Herat rail route has four sections, two in Iran and two in Afghanistan. Within Iran, section 1, running from Khaf to Sangan (14 km ), was completed in September 2016. Section 2, from Sangan to the Afghanistan–Iran border at Shamtiq (64 km ), was completed in October 2017. Section 3, running within Afghanistan from the border at Shamtiq–Jono to Rozanak in Ghurian District (61.2 km ) was completed in December 2020. Section 4 is the line from Rozanak to Guzara District (86 km ). Work is ongoing on this section, which ends at an industrial area next to Herat International Airport.

Afghanistan–Pakistan rail service

Two broad gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Pakistan Railways lines with steep gradients 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. The rail tracks would link Quetta in Pakistan with Kandahar in Afghanistan and Peshawar in Pakistan with Jalalabad in Afghanistan. The project soon fell off.

On May 29, 2012, the section from Chaman in Pakistan to Spin Boldak in Afghanistan (12 km ) was approved, though this never started.

On February 22, 2020, the first cargo train bound for Afghanistan left Karachi, Pakistan with a load of containers. Pakistan Railways Chairman Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani inaugurated the train on Saturday which departed from the Pakistan International Container Terminal in Karachi with 35 containers on board for the country's southwest Chaman city bordering Afghanistan. From there, the goods will be shifted across the border via road, the Nation reported. On 30-12-20, Pakistan signed a joint appeal letter Tuesday seeking a $4.8 billion loan from international financial institutions for a Trans-Afghan railway line project with Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

The rail link would connect Pakistan and Uzbekistan via Afghanistan and later the Central Asian countries.

Prime Minister Imran Khan signed the letter on behalf of Pakistan for the mega project, according to Abdul Razak Dawood, adviser to the prime minister on commerce and investment.

"Today, the prime minister signed a letter for a joint approach with Afghanistan & Uzbekistan for asking international financial agencies to finance the railway from Pakistan to Uzbekistan through Afghanistan. This fits well with our vision for trade and connectivity through Afghanistan to the Central Asia Republics," Dawood tweeted.

Afghanistan–Tajikistan rail service

A multination rail link was planned between Afghanistan and Tajikistan in 2013. The Tajikistan section has been partly implemented in 2016.

In 2018 a 50 km (31 mi) extension from Kolkhozobod in Tajikistan to the Afghan border town of Sher Khan Bandar in Kunduz Province was approved with construction expected to start that year.

North–South Corridor

In September 2010, China Metallurgical Group Corporation (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 921 km-long (572 mi) 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) gauge railway line that will link Kabul with Uzbekistan in the north and Pakistan in the east.

Breaks of gauge

The initial phase of railway construction from 2010 sees the creation of five break-of-gauge stations.

• Kandahar 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) / 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
• Khyber Pass 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) / 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
• Torghundi 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) / 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
• Mazar-i-Sharif 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) / 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
• Sher Khan Bandar 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) / 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

In late 2016 updates, there are multiple breaks-of-gauge. These include: 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)/1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) in the northern area, and 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)/1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)/1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) at Herat.

See also

• Transport in Afghanistan
• Khyber train safari
• Khyber Pass Railway
• Eurasian Land Bridge
• North-South Transport Corridor
• Ashgabat Agreement, a Multimodal transport agreement signed by India, Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
• Broad gauge
• Dual gauge

References

1. "Afghanistan's First Transit Rail Cargo Leaves for Iran-Türkiye Border".
2. "Trans-Afghan Railway with the Russian standard gauge?". 28 October 2023.
3. "Friendship Bridge, Termez".
4. ^ Kakar, Javed Hamim (December 2017). "Construction of Turkmen-Afghan railroad begins". Pajhwok Afghan News. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
5. ^ "Aqina-Andkhoi Railway Officially Opened". TOLOnews. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
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9. "Contract Extended for Repairs to Railway With Uzbekistan". TOLOnews. 6 July 2024. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
10. ^ Kabul to Darulaman railway, Railways of Afghanistan
11. "To India In Eleven Days.; Russia's Transcaspian Railway And The Time Necessary To Complete It", The New York Times, 1885-05-03
12. pogacsa (2016-07-01). "夢の弾丸列車" (in Japanese). Rakuten Blog. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
13. https://web.archive.org/web/20070430101935/http://www.ajg41.clara.co.uk/afghanistan.html#sdfootnote40sym Railways in Afghanistan, past and future
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55. INDIA, THE HANS (March 24, 2016). "Ashgabat Agreement". www.thehansindia.com.

Further reading

• Grantham, A. Railways in Afghanistan
• Waters, Paul E (2002). Afghanistan: A Railway History. Bromley: PWA. ISBN 0948904097.
• Afghanistan demain le rail pp. 6–14 + 27 pictures – vie du rail – n°1542 – 09/05/1976

External links

• UN Map
• UNHCR Atlas Map

v t e Transport in Afghanistan
Ministries	Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation Ministry of Energy and Water
Modes of transport	Rail transport Road transport
Miscellaneous	Milli Bus

• Rail transport in Afghanistan