Iran, Afghanistan to Connect Railway Network by Nov. 20: Deputy Minister

Iranian Deputy Roads and Urban Development Minister Saeid Rasouli announced on Friday that by opening the Khaf-Herat railway, the railway network of the two countries will be completed by November 20. The Khaf-Herat railway has a total of 218 km in four sections, the first and second sections of which are from Khaf to Shamtigh in Iran, with a length of about 76 km, and the third section is from Shamtigh to Roznak, with a length of 62 km in Afghanistan., said the official, according to IRNA. This international railway has an annual capacity of 1.7 million tons of cargo transit from the CIS countries, Turkey and the Persian Gulf, he said.

With the completion of this project, for the first time, Afghanistan can take advantage of a railway which provides access to Turkey and Europe, via Iran’s ports in the Persian Gulf.
The project was started in April 2007 with Iran’s aid at a cost of US$75 million and was due to be finished in 2009, but was delayed. Completion of the project will increase transit opportunities in Afghanistan and is intended to solve many investors’ and merchants’ problems. “The Khaf railway project will help connect Herat to the entire world and develop our export ability,” said Abdul Latif Qanawizyan, the deputy head of the Herat Chamber of Commerce and Industries on October 6.

Iranian officials have said that the project will also help Afghanistan get easy access to Iranian ports at Chabahar and Bandar Abbas. The Herat-Khaf railway is the largest joint infrastructural project between Iran and Afghanistan.

Talking on the sidelines of Self-Sufficiency in Rail Industry in Tehran on October 11, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami said that the four provinces of Ardebil, Kurdestan, North Khorasan and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari will also join the national railway network by September 2021. He said, “One of the most important railway routes in our country is the North-South Corridor, which is the largest railway project in the country.” Since last year, we have accelerated the use of domestic products with special care, Eslami said, adding that during the spread of the coronavirus, we added new cars to the railway fleet. - Iran Daily