Are we heading for the age of the railways?
The first efforts to build a railway network were under King Amanullah. Tracks were laid between Dehmazang and Darulaman in Kabul.
Are we heading for the age of the railways?
The first efforts to build a railway network were under King Amanullah. Tracks were laid between Dehmazang and Darulaman in Kabul. Work on expanding the railway continued till the government of President Dawood Khan. War, however, halted all such expansion plans untill recently.
Now President Ashraf Ghani is scheduled to inaugurate the line between Aqina Port and Turkmenistan, which will provide a second rail link between the two countries. The first is further west, the line to Torghondai. According to Shah Husain Mustafawi, a deputy spokesperson in the president’s office, an agreement on Rah e Lajward or the lapis lazuli route, a proposed trade corridor, will be signed between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Mustafawi says, “At the (16th) Shanghai summit (in Uzbekistan in June), the president of Turkmenistan invited the Afghan president to participate in inauguration ceremonies of Aqina port railway project. Afghanistan is interested in cooperation with Turkmenistan in different sectors.” The railway, which starts in Turkmenistan, connects with Aqina port in northern Faryab province. In the second phase, it will go from Andkhoy, 35 kms from Aqina, to Tajikistan after passing the provinces such as Jowzjan, Balkh and Kunduz, under the planned TAT Railway, a trilateral agreement between Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
Musafer Quqandi, spokesperson of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce & Industries says the opening of the railway would be a big help to marketing. “Afghanistan would be connected to Azerbaijan, Gorjistan, Turkey and the Caspian sea. A second route is through Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China.”
Herat to Khawaf
The 130-km line under construction from Herat to Khawaf will connect Afghanistan to Turkey, Europe and ports in Iran. This an important transit way that connects Afghanistan with ports in Iran and Turkey. Work started on this project in 2006.
Based on the promises made by the Iranian government, the project should have been completed by 2008. The railway has been planned in four phases. Engineer Habibullah Timori, the head of Herat public works says the work for two parts has been completed and Iran has promised to start work on the third part soon. Sixty kilometres of the line is in Iran, and the rest in Afghanistan. Officials in the provincial department say 100 kms of the line has been laid. “Construction for the third part will cost some 75 million USD, the money is from Iran and the World Bank, while the fourth part will be financed by Italy, an investment of 4 million Euros. Work on the survey has been completed by engineers of the Ministry of Public Works,” he says.
Jailani Farhad, spokesperson for the Herat governor, says work on this railway has started from Roznak village in Ghorian district. It has been completed up to the airport. When the line from Herat to Khawaf is completed, western Afghanistan will have a railway for the first time.
Herat to Torghondai
Survey work on another railway between Herat and Torghondai has started recently. The World Bank has provided 1.6 million USD for the survey.
The authorities in the Herat public works department say that the line will start in Turkmenistan and pass through districts such as Kushk Kohna, Rabat Sangi, Gulran, Enjeel and Guzara to reach Herat airport, a distance of 200 kms. Engineer Timori says the railway will connect Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, Iran and Central Asia when completed. “The survey has been contracted to a Canadian company. It has to complete the work in six months,” says Timori.
The line will connect with the Herat-Khawaf railway. It could transform Herat province into a big commercial hub.
Jalalabad to Peshawar
A rail line connecting Jalalabad to Peshawar is also being planned. A Kabul-based firm, Omar, has been contracted to make the initial plans. Wahidullah Oriakhil, who is in charge of Omar, told Killid that work would start soon. Omar chief Masoud Amin is an advisor to the Ministry of Public Works. He had met Salim Kunduzai, the Nangarhar governor, a few months ago. “The line will be 150-kms long, half of it in Afghanistan. The money for the project will come from Pakistan,” he says.
The Nangarhar governor, who has promised to push the project forward, assured the delegation led by Omar’s Amin of support from Nangarhar border security and police headquarters.
Afghanistan to China
The aim of this railway would be to open a major transit route between countries in the region. Following an agreement among China, Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan, Iran and Afghanistan, China National Railway (CNR)
Corporation will build a line that will stretch from Kashgar, in China’s far west, to Iran. It will pass through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, to enter Afghanistan through Sher Khan port in Kunduz. The line will snake through the northern provinces to Herat, and onwards to Iran. Nearly half the rail line will be in Afghanistan. The project has a 2025 deadline.
Currently Afghanistan has two mainly freight rail corridors: from Uzbekistan to Balkh; and, between Turkmenistan and Torghondai port. Hopes are pinned on the planned expansion of the country’s railway network. Sheraqa Kagawal, a business analyst says, “Our trade will bloom, and we will be rid of our dependency on Iran and Pakistan.”
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