Rail transport in Afghanistan
Rail transport in Afghanistan currently consists of two rail lines for freight.
- 2.1 First mainline connections
- 2.2 railway line from Turkmenistan to Towraghondi
- 2.3 railway line from Uzbekistan to Mazar -i -Sharif
- 2.4 railway line from Iran to Herat
Past approaches
19th century
Abdur Rahman Khan (1844-1901), who was Emir of Afghanistan since 1880, refused railways for his country strictly. Surrounded by Russia to the north and in the south east of the UK he held Railways for invasion corridors of colonialism.
Railway Kabul Darul Aman
So Afghanistan was only in the 1920s, a first eight-kilometer narrow gauge railway with a track width of 762 mm. It was built as part of the reforms of King Amanullah Khan and led from the capital Kabul to the Darul Aman Palace, which was provided as the seat of Parliament. After the fall of King Amanullah Khan in 1929 fell into the layout. In the following years there were only a few light railways for large construction projects in Afghanistan.
Current situation
First mainline connections
During the Soviet- Afghan war, the absence presented a railway connection to the armed forces of the Soviet Union is a significant logistical problem, thus confirming the nearly one hundred years earlier concerns expressed by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan.
To remedy the logistic deficit, the part of the Soviet Union two routes from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the usual there broad gauge of 1520 mm were a piece about the Afghan border out of time. Thus, the country received first international railway connections that were previously exclusively serve the freight.
Railway line from Turkmenistan to Towraghondi
A ten- kilometer route - of which about two kilometers on Afghan territory - was built in the early 1980s by Serhetabat in Turkmenistan to Towraghondi in Afghanistan. After deduction of the Soviet Union fell into this facility and was made only in 2007 again operational. Between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan a treaty was signed to build the route to Herat on. You should run over Mazar -i -Sharif -Kabul - Kandahar - Herat.
Railway line from Uzbekistan to Mazar -i -Sharif
A second, about fifteen kilometers long route - of which about ten kilometers on Afghan territory - was built for the same reason at the beginning of the 1980s, from Termez in Uzbekistan to Hairatan in Afghanistan. The border river Amu Darya they crossed on the bridge of friendship, a combined road and railway bridge, which opened on 12 May 1982. The route was part of Uzbekistan closed due to the political situation in 1996. 2001, the traffic was - initially for trains with supplies - resumed.
The extension of the line to 75 km to the airport of Mazar -i -Sharif is based on an agreement between the Uzbek Railways ( UTY ), Afghanistan and the Asian Developement Bank ( ADB). The line was single track built by the Uzbek railway route from the previous end Hairatan in 1520 mm broad gauge in 10 months and opened in late 2010. The project cost 170 million U.S. dollars and was financed by the Asian Development Bank 165 million U.S. dollars, 5 million dollars come from the Afghan government.
The route runs through desert-like area first to Naiababad south along a main road, where you turn off to the west, where the endpoint Gur -e -Mar, 18 kilometers east of Mazar -i -Sharif is achieved. It is designed for a maximum speed of 80 km / h and has a railway station 20 km, all with a 1.7 -kilometer-long siding for freight trains. The route will be operated in the first three years of a subsidiary of the Uzbek railway. In this period, due Afghan staff to be trained to take over the operation.
Behind this project is primarily to military transport needs by the war in Afghanistan. The railway connecting Afghanistan to reduce transportation costs for military equipment to the air freight of about U.S. $ 14,000 to U.S. $ 300-500 per tonne. To this end it was agreed with Russia and other countries of transit, that the passage of corresponding trains from Western Europe is possible. End of August 2011 was the Uzbek railway from the Afghan government an initially limited to three years concession to operate the route and took so formally the traffic on. However, the first test - drove freight train in December 2011., The track was officially opened on February 3, 2012. On this day also reached the first commercial freight Mazar -i -Sharif. About the military transportation needs beyond the parties promise by the railway line a more intense link between the economies of the republics mittelalsiatischen and Afghanistan.
The Asian Development Bank has provided end of 2011 300 million U.S. dollars for the extension of the line in the 225 km west location Andkhoy. From there, there is the possibility of a further extension to Herat and in neighboring Turkmenistan. Construction is expected to begin in 2013.
Railway line from Iran to Herat
In western Afghanistan, there is a 124 km long standard gauge track from the Iranian border to Herat under construction, which produces the connection to the Iranian railway system in Mashhad. The cost is U.S. $ 230 million, with the main part by Iran and $ 62 million will be financed by $ Afghanistan itself. After dams and bridges have already been created in the Iranian construction phase, the work spiked in the Afghan section for financial reasons, but in the meantime continued high emphasis. In Herat, the lane-changing station for the transition between the 1435 mm gauge and 1520 mm track is expected to create.
Planning for the future
Within the next 25 years, the Afghan government is planning a rail ring route from Herat through Mazar -i -Sharif, Kabul and Kandahar through the country with connections to the orbits of neighboring Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. The entire route network should have a length of 2,800 kilometers and cost several billion U.S. $.
A technical problem arises for Afghanistan in that it will provide the interface for three different gauges. The neighboring states to the north, use the " Russian" broad gauge of 1520 mm, Pakistan uses a broad gauge of 1676 mm and the railway of Iran is expanding its routes in the standard gauge of 1435 mm. Presumably the latter track width will be used. You should in any case be made against a project based on the ( standard gauge ) between China and Iran in the north of Afghanistan and the more north-south rail link provides an east-west rail link ( with 1676mm track) between Russia and Pakistan. Concrete plans in this case are for a 100 -kilometer route from the Pakistani border town of Chaman to Kandahar and Kabul via a link from Pakistan to Uzbekistan. Through this connection, the export of copper ore from the mine Aynak the China Metallurgical Group is promoted, which also builds the route.