Afghanistan has four railway lines in the north and northwest of the country. The first is between Mazar-i-Sharif and Hairatan in Balkh Province, which then connects with Uzbek Railways of Uzbekistan (opened 2011). The second links Torghundi in Herat Province with Turkmen Railways of Turkmenistan (opened 1960). The third is between Turkmenistan and Aqina in Faryab Province of Afghanistan (opened in 2016), which extends south to the city of Andkhoy. The country currently lacks a passenger rail service, but a new rail link from Herat in Afghanistan 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.
Afghanistan's rail network is in the developing stage. The current rail lines are to be extended in the near future, with plans to include cargo and passenger services. This will connect the four subcontinents of Asia through Afghanistan.
History
Kabul tramway
In the 1920s, King Amanullah bought three small steam locomotives from Henschel of Kassel in Germany, which were put to work on a gauge roadside railway, long, linking Kabul and Darulaman. The December 1922 issue of The Locomotive magazine includes: "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 August 1928 issue of The Locomotive magazine mentions: "The only railway at present in Afghanistan is five miles long, between Kabul and Darulaman". The tramway closed (date unknown), and was dismantled in the 1940s, but the locomotives were held, outdoors, at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Darulaman.Kabul to Darulaman railway, Railways of Afghanistan
In total, three small Henschel 0-4-T steam locomotives were used. Those three survive in the Kabul Museum since 2002. The third locomotive (Henschel 19691 of 1923) might be a different gauge, implying its origin is from a different railway all together. However Henchel 19680 and 19681 of 1923 were found in the former engine shed of the Kabul and Darulaman Railway, characterized with its green paint (mostly faded).
Proposed railways Over the 19th 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 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 British 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-British Indian system at Peshawar. Lines to join Kabul with Kandahar and Herat would follow later. Owing to political upheavals these plans were not implemented.
In 1930s, the Japanese Ministry of Railways proposed Eurasian high speed rail from Tokyo to Paris via Busan (through Korea Strait undersea tunnel), Beijing, Baotou, Turfan, Kashgar, Kabul, Tehran, Baghdad, Istanbul with connection to Berlin and Rome but never realised at the beginning of the World War II.
Industrial railways In the 1950s a hydroelectric power station was built at Surobi, east of Kabul. Three Henschel four-wheel narrow gauge diesel-hydraulic locomotives 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 narrow gauge locomotives, works numbers 150–154, to an unknown customer in Afghanistan.https://web.archive.org/web/20070430101935/http://www.ajg41.clara.co.uk/afghanistan.html#sdfootnote40sym Railways in Afghanistan, past and future
On 24 March 2026 Afghanistan was suspended from the OTIF for not paying contributions, losing its voting rights in the organization, the suspension was announced to be in practice since 1 January 2026 until dues are paid.
Timeline
2007 April - Work begins on Khaf-Herat railway.
2010 27 January - Construction on Uzbekistan Afghanistan railway begins.
2011 May 2011 - Kerki - Ymamnazar - Aqina - Andkhoy railway project approved. 20/21 August - First freight services begin from Hairatan to Mazar-e Sharif.
2013 March - Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan(TAT) Railway is approved in a trilateral meeting held in Lebap, approved from Kerki to Kholm. June - Construction begins on the Kerki - Aqina railway.
2016 April - Joint agreement made to begin feasibility study on Torghundi - Herat railway by afghan and turkmen governments. September - First section of the Khaf-Herat railway, Khaf-Sangan railway completed. November - Turkmenistan-Afghanistan railway section Kerki-Aqina is completed.
2017 October - Second section of the Khaf - Herat railway completed Sangan to shamtiq border crossing inside iran completed. 23 November - Afghan and Turkmen governments ink an MoU regarding the repair of the Torghundi - Serhetabad railway and related infrastructure.
2018 23 February 2018 - The Torghundi - Serhetabad railway was officially commissioned after being renovated.
2019 February - Aqina – Andkhoy railway line MoU signed. July - Construction begins on the Aqina - Andkhoy railway.
2020 December - Third section of the Khaf-Herat railway, border crossing Shamtiq - Rozanak, Ghurian District completed.
2021 14 January - Aqina-Andkhoy railway inaugurated. February - It was announced that the Feasibility study of the Peshawar- Jalalabad railway would be completed by June 2021.
2022 10 November - Zahedan- Khash section of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway officially inaugurated.
2023 11 July - Freight operations on the Khaf-Herat railway begins.
2024 30 July - Feasibility Study approved for Tajik section of TAT Railway funded by KOICA. September - Construction of the fourth section of the Khaf-Herat railway, Rozanak - Herat section begins. 11 September - Construction begins on the first section of the Torghundi - Herat railway, the Torghundi - Sangbor section.
2025 Late February - Turkmen and Afghan officials discuss beginning of feasibility study for the Andkhoy-Sheberghan railway. April - Iranian officials announce that the Khaf - Herat railway would be completed by March 2026. 22 October - Iranian, Turkish and Afghan officials discussed the Herat-Mazar-i-Sharif section of the FNRC, a $10 million feasibility study was initiated with completion scheduled in March 2026. Late October - Iranian officials announce that the Chabahar-Zahedan railway is 84% complete.
2026 Late January - Iranian officials state that the substructure of Chabahar-Zahedan railway is 96% complete, 75% of tracks laid, station buildings almost complete, key stations complete, overall completion by end of 2026 and railway operations by June 2027. 4 February - Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev formally decreed to launch procedures to begin a joint feasibility study on the UAP railway project with Afghan and Pakistani governments. February - Iranian officials expanded some railway stations in Section 4 of the Khaf-Herat railway as logistical depots. 24 March - OTIF suspends Afghanistan for not paying dues, Afghanistan temporarily loses its voting rights in the organization.
Track gauge Until the 21st century, less than of railway existed inside Afghanistan, which was built to Russian gauge. For strategic reasons, past Afghan governments averted the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by Britain or Russia. The gauges in adjacent countries were: Iran, to the west, and China, to the east: Pakistan, to the south and east: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, to the north: .
In 2010, the international "standard gauge" was chosen to be the country's railway gauge. The Khaf-Herat railway, a joint project between Afghanistan and Iran completed in 2020, was built to that gauge. it was long, of which was in Afghanistan; the remainder was in Iran. It links Afghan with Turkey, Europe and Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf.
Network
This is the list of the current and future Railway Network of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Railway NetworkNo.Corridor GaugeSections From To Length (km) Construction period Note Status1Torghundi - Herat 1520 mmPhase 1Serhetabat Torghundi 4Soviet Era - 1974. Rehabilitation in 2017– 23 February 2018 Operational Phase 2 Torghundi Sangbor 22 11 September 2024–PresentUnder construction Phase 3 Sangbor Herat (Robat-e-Parian) 90Planned Phase 4 Herat (Robat-e-Parian) Herat (Airport) 57 Planned2 Trans-Afghan Railway
1520 mmSection 1Termez HairatanSoviet Era - 1982 Operational Section 2 Hairatan Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport 75 27 January 2010– 20/21 August 2011 Section 3 Naibabad Puli Khumri177Planned Section 4 Puli Khumri ShashPul, Bamyan 175 Section 5 ShashPul, Bamyan Kabul171 Section 5 Kabul Logar Section 6 Logar Kharlachi 1244 Five Nations Railway Corridor
(Northern Line) 1435 mmSection 1 & 2Khaf, Iran shamtiq border crossing0 April 2007 - October 2017 CompletedSection 3 shamtiq Rozanak 62inaugurated in December 2020CompletedSection 4- Phase 1RozanakRobat Pariyan 43 Inaugurated on September 28, 2026CompletedSection 4- Phase 2Robat PariyanHerat Airport44 Work started on 11 September 2024Under construction Herat To Mazar-i-Sharif 650kmHerat Sangbor 100 Part of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan(TAT) Railway Proposed PlannedSangbor Balamurghab Balamurghab Qeysar 121 Qeysar Maimana 57 Maimana Sheberghan 296 Sheberghan Naibaabad Mazar Sharif Mazar-i-Sharif To Wakhan
700 Km Naibabad Qala-e-Zal123 Qala-e-Zal Sherkhan Bandar Qala-e-Zal kunduz 55 Kunduz Badakhshan 199 Badakhshan Wakhan 3673 Aqina to Sheberghan 1520 mmPhase 1Kerki Aqina0 June 2013 - November 2016 Part of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan(TAT) RailwayCompleted Phase 2 Aqina Andkhoy - North 30 July 2019 - 14 January 2021Completed Phase 3 Andkhoy - North Andkhoy - East 10Under construction Phase 4 Andkhoy - East Sheberghan 55 Planned6 Herat to Kabul
(Southern Line) 1435 mm Section 1 Herat Farah 216 Supported by Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to connect to Spin Boldak on the Pakistan border Proposed Section 2 Farah Lashkargah 420 Section 3 Lashkargah Kandahar 140 Section 4 Kandahar Zabul Section 5 Zabul Ghazni Section 6 Ghazni Logar Section 7 Logar Kabul8 Herat to Bamyan
(Central Line) 1435 Section 1 Herat Ghor 574 km Proposed Section 2GhorBamyan8 Jalalabad to Peshawar Jalalabad Torkham 76 Proposed9 Kandahar to Quetta 1676 mm Kandahar Spin Boldak 96 Planned Spin Boldak Chaman 12 Approved on May 29, 2012, but never started Approved9 Lashkargah to Bahramcha 1676 mm Lashkargah Bahramcha 254 Planned9 Zarang to Delaram 1435 Zarang Delaram 204 PlannedTotal
Railway stations There are currently no passenger services or passenger train stations in Afghanistan. If any of the various cross-border links are completed and opened to passenger service, new passenger stations will have to be built.
Proposed Details of the preliminary list of stations to be served, which circle the central mountains of Afghanistan are available.
National Rail Authority