Construction work on the proposed Trans-Afghan Railway could be under way within six months, while the project could cost around $4.6bn to deliver and cut shipping transit times from Uzbekistan to Pakistan from more than a month to just three to five days.

Officials in Uzbekistan have this week been briefing these and other details to local press as Tashkent, the Taliban administration in Afghanistan and Islamabad aim to keep up momentum in progressing the long-envisioned rail infrastructure.

As reported by bne IntelliNews on July 22 after the three countries agreed to commence a project feasibility study, all of landlocked Central Asia, as well as Russia and China, are taking a keen interest in an investment that could transform many prospects in trade with South Asia and beyond, especially as the Trans Afghan Railway would link to existing Pakistani rail routes leading to the Pakistani Arabian Sea coast, from where exports have direct access to Indian Ocean shipping lanes.

The railway megaproject has become Uzbekistan’s second most strategically important initiative after the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway, according to Deputy Minister of Transport Jasurbek Choriev.

The planned 650-kilometre (404-mile) line would run from Termez in Uzbekistan and through Afghanistan to the Pakistani border at Kharlachi.

A trilateral office set up to oversee the feasibility study, which will examine technical and economic aspects of the project, has been tasked with attracting external financing. This will be far from easy given that Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government remains almost universally unrecognised. Russia lately became the first country to grant it recognition.

In its initial phase, the railroad, as envisaged, would carry up to 3mn tonnes of cargo annually. There are plans to scale up to 15-20mn tonnes by 2035–2040.

As always with any foreign-invested project in Afghanistan, the question of security comes up, but Uzbekistan says Kabul would provide security guarantees, including infrastructure protection, throughout all stages of construction.

The delivery of the Pakistan section of the railway will involve building through challenging mountainous terrain, requiring the construction of five tunnels and 312 bridges.

Adding to hopes for a rollout of long-sought transit infrastructure in Afghanistan, on July 10, officials from Kazakhstan and Afghanistan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to construct a 115-km (71-mile) railway linking Towrgondi, on Afghanistan’s border with Turkmenistan, to the western Afghan city of Herat. 

Kazakhstan has committed $500mn in project funding as part of a broader infrastructure development programme.