Afghanistan gets its first shipment from Iran by railway

The first shipment of Iranian products arrived this week in Afghanistan via a new $75 million railroad that links Iran’s eastern city of Khaf to Herat.

This week’s shipment was dispatched as a trial run to detect possible problems on the route, Iranian media reports stated.

Construction of the railway began in April 2007 and was due to finish in 2009, but was delayed.“The first consignment of goods imported from Iran which included 500 tonnes of cement entered the country [Afghanistan] via the Herat-Khaf railway,” an Afghan official from Herat said.

The 130 km long Khaf-Herat railway is strategically important as it gives Afghanistan easy access to Iranian ports at Chabahar and Bandar Abbas.

According to the Afghanistan Railway Authority, the railway forms one of its most important regional connectivity projects, as it will provide the land-locked country with a link to Iranian ports and rail networks, Turkey, and Europe, Iranian media stated.

Freight traffic is predicted to be around two million tonnes a year, with imports to include oil, construction materials, and food and exports to include grain, dried fruit, plants and medical items.

The operation of a passenger service via this railway is also being considered. According to initial studies, passenger traffic could reach 321,000 passengers in a year.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that “while the Khaf-Herat railway is to be inaugurated in the coming days as a symbol of great cooperation between the two countries, it is inevitable to take care of the suspicious actions of the ill-wishers of our relations [between Tehran and Kabul]”.

Mehr news agency reported that Iran’s exports to Afghanistan are projected to reach $2.7 billion by March next year.