Other than two short cross-border lines from the north, there are no functioning railways in Afghanistan today. Railways were planned, and at least one was built but is now dismantled.
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History
Kabul tramway
In the 1920s, King Amanullah bought three small steam locomotives from Henschel of Kassel in Germany, and these were put to work on a 7 km roadside tramway linking Kabul and Darulaman. The tramway closed (date unknown) but the locomotives still exist at Kabul museum in Darulaman.
Proposed railways
Over the last century and a half, plenty of proposals have been made about building railways in Afghanistan. As early as 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).[1]
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.
Industrial diesels
In the 1950s a hydroelectric power station was built at Sarobi, east of Kabul. Three Henschel four-wheel 600 mm (1 ft 115⁄8 in)-gauge diesel hydraulic locos 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 115⁄8 in)-gauge locomotives, works numbers 150-154, to an unknown customer in Afghanistan.
The fate of these locomotives is unknown.
Rail gauge
Rail gauge in Afghanistan is at present undetermined, and presents several difficulties which have hampered the progress of transportation in that country. Afghanistan is the cross-roads of Asia and yet is almost completely without railways.[2]
There is less than 25 kilometres of railway inside the country, all of which is built to 1,520 mm (4 ft 115⁄6 in) broad gauge. For strategic reasons, past Afghan governments preferred to discourage the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by Britain or Russia.[2]
Iran to the west uses standard gauge, 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) , as does China to the east; to the south, Pakistan uses 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) gauge, while to the north, the central Asian republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan use 1,520 mm (4 ft 115⁄6 in) gauge.
Dual gauge track with 3 rails is feasible between 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) and 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in), however 1,520 mm (4 ft 115⁄6 in) gauge is too close to 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) to support dual gauge except by using 4 or 5 rails. Dual gauge between 1,520 mm (4 ft 115⁄6 in) and 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) with 3 rails is only possible with two light rails side by side and special rail clips provided that the base of each rail is less than 6 in (152.4 mm) wide.
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 would have to be built.
Proposed
- Herat to Shir Khan Bandar commercial transit way.
Nizhniy Pyanj (326m) , Tajikistan-
Pyanj River bridge - Shir Khan Bandar (329m) [3] [4]
- Hairatan (300m)
- Aqina
- Torghondi
- Klokhabad with Panjpayan
- Mazar-i-Sharif (380m) [5]
- (67km by German Military) [6]
- Hairatan (300m)
- Aynak (2765m) - proposed copper mine, some 50 km south of Kabul [7][8] Some sources described the railway that the Chinese would have to build as part of this development as stretching from the country's border with Uzbekistan to Pakistan's Peshawar.[9]
2009
- Five year program [10]
Border railways
There is less than 25 kilometres of railway inside the country, all of which is built to 1,520 mm (4 ft 115⁄6 in) broad gauge. For strategic reasons, past Afghan governments preferred to discourage the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by Britain or Russia.[2]
Turkmen and Uzbek borders
A 10 kilometer long line extends from Serhetabat in Turkmenistan to the town of Towraghondi in Afghanistan. An upgrade of this Soviet-built line began in 2007.[11]
A second 1,520 mm (4 ft 115⁄6 in) gauge line, also built by the USSR, extends for around 15 kilometers from Termez in Uzbekistan to Kheyrabad Port, crossing the Amu Darya on the road-rail Friendship Bridge.[12]
Uzbekistan’s national railway Uzbekiston Temir Yullari is to be awarded contracts to build a 75 km line in Afghanistan from the Hairatan freight terminal to Mazar-i-Sharif by June 2011. [13][14]
Iranian border
The nearest railhead in Iran is a 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) standard gauge line which terminates at Mashhad.[15] This line is currently being extended 202 kilometers east to Herat.[16][17] On April 17 2007 Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said that the executive operations of the Khaf, Iran-Herat railway project had begun in 2006.
It was reported in October 2008 that the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Works was expecting to have this link completed by the end of 2008.[18]
Pakistan border
Two broad gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) lines from Pakistan terminate on the border at Chaman and the Khyber Pass. Various proposals exist to extend these lines on to Spin Boldak (1222m), Kandahar (1000m) and Kabul (1790m) respectively.
Other borders
There are no rail links to China or Tajikistan, though a connection to the latter was proposed in 2008.[19]
Hubs
It is highly desirable that the Indian gauge and Russian gauge lines meet without any other gauge intervening. The meeting point(s) would create transshipment and warehousing business for the host country, Afghanistan.
It is highly desirable that the Iranian Standard gauge and Chinese standard gauge meet, eliminating two or more wasteful breaks-of-gauge. This line should connect with the transshipment and warehousing hub(s) mentioned above.
See also
Sources
- ^ "TO INDIA IN ELEVEN DAYS.; RUSSIA'S TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY AND THE TIME NECESSARY TO COMPLETE IT.", The New York Times, May 3, 1885, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F06EFDD113CE731A25750C0A9639C94649FD7CF
- ^ a b c Railways in Afghanistan, past and future
- ^ http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/news/articles/eav032009a.shtml
- ^ http://freemanexaminer.org/090322fmx2112.shtml
- ^ http://www.railway-technology.com/news/news68473.html?mxmroi=6219191/2315037/false
- ^ http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11332725.htm
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald November 19, 2009, p13
- ^ Spoils of war go East as Kabul looks for highest bidder
- ^ China hungry for Afghan copper; China’s thirst for copper could hold key to Afghanistan’s future
- ^ http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11346937.htm
- ^ "Afghan rebuild underway". Railway Gazette International. 2007-07-12. http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view//afghan-rebuild-underway.html.
- ^ "Aid train reaches Afghanistan". Railway Gazette International. 2002-01-01. http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view//aid-train-reaches-afghanistan.html.
- ^ "ADB-Funded Railway to Help Afghanistan Improve Regional Links, Boost Growth". http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2009/13017-afghanistan-railways-developments/.
- ^ Afghanistan’s First Railroad Aims to Undermine Taliban Funding Bloomberg, 2009-10-28
- ^ "Modern construction methods mastered on Mashhad - Bafgh line". Railway Gazette International. 2007-07-01. http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view//modern-construction-methods-mastered-on-mashhad-bafgh-line.html.
- ^ "Rail Link With Herat". Iran Daily. 2007-02-27. http://iran-daily.com/1385/2792/html/economy.htm#s212328.
- ^ Murray Hughes (2008-01-29). "Opening up Afghan trade route to Iran". Railway Gazette International. http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view//opening-up-afghan-trade-route-to-iran.html.
- ^ "First railway after fall of Taliban regime to be completed in Afghanistan". Xinhua. 2008-10-19. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/19/content_10218674.htm.
- ^ "Pointers". Railway Gazette International. 2008-06-15. http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view//pointers-june-2008.html.
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