Practical work on rolling out trans-Afghan railway to 'commence in near future'

Practical work on rolling out trans-Afghan railway to 'commence in near future'
/ bne IntelliNews
By Muzaffar Ismailov in Tashkent April 12, 2023

Practical work on rolling out the pr0ject to build a trans-Afghan railway linking Uzbekistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan will get under way in the near future, Pahjwok Afghan News has reported with reference to Afghan officials.

Trade proponents have long dreamt of a high-capacity trade corridor that would transform inter-regional connectivity by linking Central Asia to South Asia, something that has remained out of reach during Afghanistan’s conflict-stricken decades.

An agreement inked in February last year outlines a 573-kilometre railway, costing $5.96bn, that would run through Kabul.

On April 10, the Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) announced the completion of a preliminary field survey for the part of the railway that would pass through Afghanistan.

The study was conducted in coordination with technical experts from Uzbekistan and Pakistan, ARA officials told a news conference in Kabul.

The railway line, once commissioned, would link Uzbekistan’s Termez city with Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul and Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

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