Specialists from Russia and Uzbekistan are currently conducting technical and economic studies for the trans-Afghan railway project, TOLOnews reported citing Russian Railways.
The project aims to establish a railway corridor linking Central and South Asia through Afghanistan.
Sergey Pavlov, First Deputy General Director of Russian Railways, said during a meeting of the Railway Transport Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Ashgabat that work on the project is continuing and both sides are completing its technical studies.
Under the plan, the railway route would begin in the Uzbek city of Termez and pass through Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul before connecting to the Pakistani city of Peshawar — a route that could play a significant role in expanding regional trade and transportation.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works has also spoken about preparations to begin the project’s technical survey work inside the country.
Mohammad Ashraf Haqshenas, spokesperson for the ministry, emphasized: “The memorandum of understanding for the project’s technical studies was previously signed between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. Based on this agreement, one company has been selected to carry out the studies and will soon begin practical work.”
Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan signed the project’s implementation roadmap in Tashkent in February 2021, but political changes in Afghanistan slowed its progress.
Later, in 2025, a feasibility study agreement for the project was signed in Kabul between Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Transport, and Pakistan’s Ministry of Railways.
