Railway In Afghanistan

The geographical uniqueness of Afghanistan is that it borders on several countries and also has river ports. Very few countries of the world have this kind of strategic opportunity. From this point of view, Afghanistan has tremendous potential to develop its economy. But economic development cannot be achieved without a sound transport infrastructure, in which regard Afghanistan is very deficient. The country will have to develop new Road and Rail infrastructures and also strengthen the existing one.

Over the last 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 Trans-Caspian 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. Later 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 kilometers (4.3 mi) long 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge[4] roadside tramway linking Kabul and Darulaman. The December 1922 issue of The Locomotive magazine mentions "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 tramway was closed then, and was dismantled in the 1940s, but the locomotives still exist at Kabul museum in Darulaman.

Currently, Afghanistan has three railroad lines in the north 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. The second links Torghundi in Herat province with Turkmen Railways of Turkmenistan. The third is between Aqina in Faryab province and neighboring Turkmenistan. 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.

In addition the border countries have business interests not only with Afghanistan but also among themselves. If the border countries want to establish ground connectivity between them, they are obliged to operate through Afghanistan. So development of transport infrastructure in Afghanistan is not only important for its own economy, but also for the neighboring countries as well. The has been formed of countries including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to develop ground connectivity through six corridors for the entire region. The Project is a part of Transport Strategy and CAREC Action Plan agreed under the CAREC program. These transcontinental corridors are expected to transport 20-30 million tons of cargo in total each year.

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.