Field survey for trans-Afghan railroad completed

KABUL (Pajhwok): Practical work on the trans-Afghan railway project connecting Central Asian countries with Afghanistan will get under way in the near future, officials say.

The project involving Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan is expected open up international trade routes and boost regional connectivity efforts.

The railroad agreement was signed in February 2021 to connect the former Soviet republics with South Asia via Kabul. The 573-km track is estimated to cost $5.96 billion.

On Monday, the Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) announced the completion of a preliminary field survey for the portion of the track passing through the country.

The study was conducted in coordination with technical experts from Uzbekistan and Pakistan, ARA officials told a news conference in Kabul.

ARA head Bakht-ur-Rehman Sharafat told reporters the authority had collected 3.1 billion afghanis in revenue last year, when four million metric tonnes of cargo was transported through the country’s railways.

The railway line will link Termez in Uzbekistan with Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, capital Kabul and Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

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