Afghan Envoy: Feasibility Studies Underway on Linking Iran’s Railway to China via Afghanistan

Afghan Ambassador to Tehran Nasir Ahmadnour announced that feasibility studies are being carried out on a regional railway to link Iran to China through Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
“This railway will link Iran to China through Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and it is a giant project,” Ahmadnour told FNA on Sunday.

“The mentioned railway is still under the feasibility studies and the executive operations will start after the completion of these studies,” he added.

Ahmadnour said that the railway is strategically important to the region, specially Iran and Afghanistan, adding that it will increase regional economic interactions.

His remarks came as the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway as a part of the North-South international transport corridor is being built by the three countries to develop the regional railways.

It is assumed that the railroad would create additional routes linking Kazakhstan, the central regions of Russia and Turkmenistan, Iran, Persian Gulf countries, South and Southeast Asia and will increase transit freight and passenger traffic, reduce transport costs, save time for travel and cause economic growth in the regions through which the railway will run.

A trilateral intergovernmental agreement was signed in 2007 between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran on the Zhanaozen-Gyzylgaya-Bereket-Etrek-Gorgan railway line with subsequent access to the Russian railway network, which will shorten the route by 600 kilometers. The construction operation started in 2009.