From the early days, Afghanistan has been a tempting vision for railway planners, having at one time been seen as a potential overland route between Europe and India via Russia, avoiding the long sea journey. Termez in Uzbekistan is just a tantalizing 400km (250 miles) from Landi Kotal in Pakistan, near the Khyber Pass. Both these places were rail served by the early part of the 20th century, and as a bonus the proposed line would pass through the Afghan capital of city Kabul. Some major engineering work would be required, including a long tunnel under the Hindu Kush, but nothing that was beyond the technology of the time.
But the political situation in Afghanistan during the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century was volatile, to say the least. There was internal unrest and several periods of open warfare with neighbouring British India. By the 1920s, Afghanistan was a somewhat more stable country, but Russia was now under a communist government that was unlikely to be sympathetic to commercial through traffic between what it saw as imperialist countries.
During this period, the Afghan rulers did commission some work to be done on a proposed railway system for internal communications. A German firm was contracted to do various surveys and preliminary work. However, the only railway that was actually built in this period was a 7km, steam hauled, roadside tramway that operated for a few years between Kabul and Darulaman. The locomotives are reported to be still in existence, though in poor condition, at the Kabul museum.
In the 1950s a small narrow-gauge industrial railway was installed at a power station, but apart from that there was no further railway construction until the period of Soviet occupation.
The Soviet Union built two rail lines, using the Russian standard gauge of 1520mm, to connect their own system with Afghanistan. Both lines crossed the Amu Darya river into Afghanistan itself, but were never extended further. Both lines fell out of use with the Soviet withdrawal, but the Friendship Bridge at Kheyrabad, near Hariatan, was reopened in 2001.
The present day Afghan railway system thus consists of just 0.8 route km of 1520mm gauge track, used mainly by trains bringing in foreign aid, and operated by Uzbekistan Railways. An overland rail route from Europe to the Indian subcontinent is now under construction, but it will run via Iran, not Afghanistan. However, proposals are again under cosideration for an extensive network of railways in Afghanistan as part of the reconstruction of the country, and we look forward to further developments with interest.
