AFGHANISTAN: The Ministry of Public Works and the provincial government have formally launched construction of the final phase of the railway corridor from Iran to Herat.
The first three stages of the line from Khaf in eastern Iran are already complete, with the current terminus at Rosnak on the road between the Iranian border and Herat having been officially opened in December 2020.
Stage 4 is being built in two phases, with the 43 km Phase 1 from Rosnak to Robat Paryan reported to be more than 90% complete. Construction of the 47·3 km Phase 2 from Robat Paryan to the Herat industrial area and airport was launched with a ceremony on September 14, and completion is expected within two years.
Domestic financing and construction
Stage 4 Phase 2 is being built by Afghan conglomerate Gamma Group with the support of Russian Railways subsidiary RZD International under a contract signed on March 28 2024.
The US$54·6m project is being financed domestically by the Ministry of Mines & Petroleum, which in January 2025 granted Gamma Group’s mining business Gamma Eagle rights to extract lead and zinc at Sarsarkhak in Yakawlang in return for commitments including constructing Stage 4 Phase 2 of the railway and building a hospital in Wardak.
Crossroads of Asia
At the ceremony marking the start of work of Stage 4 Phase 2 Deputy Minister of Railways Mawlawi Mohammad Ishaq Sahibzada said expanding the rail network is of strategic significance, and the Khaf – Herat corridor would make Afghanistan a crossroads linking Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East.
Herat Governor Sheikh Maulana Islam Jar said the project would help transform the city into a bustling transit hub, while Mohammad Nasir Amin, Head of the Herat Chamber of Industries & Mines, said the project would cut the cost of transporting a tonne of freight from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas from US$130 or more by lorry to US$40 by rail.
The 225 km Khaf – Herat project is the first 1 435 mm gauge railway in Afghanistan, matching the standard gauge networks in Iran and Turkey. The 75 km Uzbekistan – Mazar-i-Sharif line and the two short cross-border lines from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan are 1 520 mm gauge.
Future rail plans in western Afghanistan include an extension to Herat of the 1 520 mm gauge line from Turkmenistan which currently ends at Towraghondi on the Afghan side of the border, and a line from Herat to Kandahar and Spin Boldak near Pakistan’s railhead at Chaman.
