Everything about Afghanistantransportations totally explained
Landlocked
Afghanistan has almost no railways, but the
Amu Darya (Oxus) River, which forms part of Afghanistan's border with
Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, and
Tajikistan, has barge traffic. During their occupation of the country, the
Soviets completed a bridge across the Amu Darya and built a combined
road and rail bridge between
Termez and
Jeyretan.
Highways
History
Most road building occurred in the 1960s, funded by the
U.S. and the
Soviet Union. The Soviets built a road and
tunnel through the
Salang pass in 1964, connecting northern and southern Afghanistan. A highway connecting the principal cities of
Herat,
Kandahar,
Ghazni, and
Kabul with links to highways in neighboring
Pakistan formed the primary road system.
Highways include 8,231 kilometers of paved roads and 26,558 kilometers of unpaved roads, for an approximate total road system of 34,789 kilometers. This 2003 estimation is per
CIA World Factbook annotation.
Rebuilding
The highway system is currently going through a total reconstruction phase. Most of the regional roads are also being repaired or improved. For the last 30 years, the poor state of the Afghan transportation and communication networks have further
fragmented and hampered the struggling economy.
Since the fall of the
Taliban many roads have been rebuilt with foreign assistance including:
A road bridge linking Tajikistan and Afghanistan which cost $37 million was inaugurated in 2007. The bridge, nearly 700 metres long and 11 metres across, straddles the
Panj river which forms a natural border between the two countries, between the ports of
Nizhny Panj on the Tajik side and
Shir Khan Bandar in Afghanistan.
Railways
There is less than 25 kilometres of
railway inside the country, all of which is built to
broad gauge. For
strategic reasons, past Afghan governments preferred to discourage the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by
Britain or Russia.
Gauge problem
Afghanistan suffers from a
break-of-gauge problem at every border. The gauges used in adjacent countries are:
Iran, China: 1.435m
Former Soviet republics: 1.524m
Pakistan: 1.676m
Current plans are to extend neighboring railways and gauges into Afghanistan. In the long term this would leave the country with a mixed system that aids cross-border traffic but hinders internal traffic. There is no simple solution to this problem. Dual gauge track is feasible between 1.435m and 1.676m, however 1.524m gauge is too close to the other two to support dual gauge except by using 4 rails. A linkup between standard gauge in Iran and China would be highly desirable in the longer term.
Turkmen and Uzbek borders
A 10 kilometer long line extends from Serhetabat in Turkmenistan to the town of Towraghondi in Afghanistan. An upgrade of this Soviet-built line began in 2007.
A second gauge line, also built by the USSR, extends for around 15 kilometers from Termez in Uzbekistan to Kheyrabad Port, crossing the Amu Darya on the road-rail Friendship Bridge.
Iranian border
The nearest railhead in Iran is a standard gauge line which terminates at Mashhad. This line is currently being extended 202 kilometers east to Herat., .
On April 17, 2007, Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said that the executive operations of the Khaf, Iran-Herat railway project has begun in 2006.
Pakistan border
Two broad gauge lines from Pakistan terminate on the border at Chaman and the Khyber Pass. Various proposals exist to extend these lines on to Kandahar and Kabul respectively.
Other borders
There are no rail links to China or Tajikistan.
Timeline
2007
Construction in Iran has brought that system's lines close to the Afghan border at Khaf. Proposed extensions using 1435mm gauge would serve:
2008
Opening up Afghan trade route to Iran, Railway Gazette International, January 2008, p55 (External Link
)
Pipelines
There are petroleum pipelines from Bagram into Uzbekistan and Shindand into Turkmenistan. These pipelines have been is disrepair and disuse for years. There are 180 kilometers of natural gas pipelines. The $3 billion Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline proposal for a natural gas pipeline across Afghanistan into Pakistan is moving forward.
Ports and harbors
The chief inland waterway of land-locked Afghanistan is the Amu Darya River which forms part of Afghanistan's northern border. The river handles barge traffic up to about 500 metric tons. The main river ports are located at Kheyrabad and Shair Khan .
Airports
There are 47 airports. Approximately 10 of these have paved runways. Of those, 3 have runways over 3000 meters, 4 have runways between 2500 and 3000 meters, 2 have runways between 1500 and 2500 meters, and 1 has a runway under 1000 meters. 37 have unpaved runways. Of those, 1 has a runway over 3000 meters, 7 have runways between 2500 and 3000 meters, 14 have runways between 1500 and 2500 meters, 4 have runways between 1000 and 1500 meters, and 11 have runways under 1000 meters.
Kabul International Airport (3500 m runway) is the nation's largest airport and the primary hub for international civilian flights.
Kandahar International Airport (3200 m runway) is a dual-use airport serving southern Afghanistan.
Mazari Sharif Airport (3100 m runway) is a dual-use airport serving the northern and central portions of the country.
Herat Airport (2600 m runway) is the primary civil airport for the eastern portion of the country.
Jalalabad Airport (1800 m runway)
Bagram Air Base is used by the US military and allied forces. It has heavy traffic, especially helicopters. It can also handle larger airliners such as Boeing 747s, C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III military cargo planes. KBR and some other companies fly into and out of Bagram on a regular basis.
Afghanistan government priorities include upgrading of Kabul Airport to international airport meeting ICAO standards and upgrading Herat, Mazari Sharif and Jalalabad airports to international standards.
Heliports
There are at least five heliports.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Afghanistantransportations'.
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