Afghanistan’s rail transport grows over 18 percent this year: MoPW

The Ministry of Public Works has announced that since the beginning of the current Solar Hijri year (1404), the volume of rail transportation in Afghanistan has increased by more than 18 percent.

Officials from the ministry said that the amount of cargo transported this year has reached more than 2.3 million tons, representing an increase of over 18 percent compared to the same period last year.

They added that efforts are underway to implement railway development projects within the country so that Afghanistan, in addition to using railways for international transport, can also use them for domestic transportation.

 Mohammad Ashraf Haqshenas, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works, said: “The volume of transportation during the first eight months of this year shows an 18.43 percent increase compared to last year, with the highest level of transportation occurring in the past two months.”

Meanwhile, members of the private sector are calling on the Ministry of Public Works to expand its efforts to develop railway lines in the country so that Afghanistan’s exports can reach regional and global markets on a large scale and at reasonable costs.

However, economic experts said that if the rail transportation system in Afghanistan is expanded, there will be a significant increase in the export of the country’s mineral and industrial products, in addition to agricultural products.

These experts have urged the Ministry of Public Works to expand the standardization and innovation of the country’s transit infrastructure so that Afghanistan can become a regional transit hub.