Four technical employees of the Afghanistan Railway Authority have arrived in Iran to receive training.
“Four technical employees have been dispatched to Tehran for receiving professional and practical training in the field of railroads, signaling and communications,” an ARA statement said, Bakhtar News Agency reported on Monday.
The statement added that after the successful completion of the training, their knowledge and expertise will be used in managing the Khaf-Herat railroad.
The authority is making efforts to organize training programs to strengthen its employees’ capacity.
On May 9, the first trial run of cargo train services from Iran to Afghanistan via the Khaf-Herat railroad was completed. This shipment included 17 wagons that transferred 655 tons of railroad equipment that will be used in the further construction of the railroad. The Khaf-Herat railroad is 225 kilometers long, with 140 km of the rail track traversing Afghanistan and the remaining 85 km running through Iran.
The construction of Khaf-Herat railroad, which links Khaf in eastern Iran with Herat in western Afghanistan, started in 2007. The project has a reported value of $75 million and is funded by Iran. Recently, Iranian government officials stated that this railroad would link up with the rail networks of China and India.
The Diplomat noted that the Khaf-Herat railroad project has been part of a proposed $2 billion Five Nations Railway Corridor, which would run through Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The total length is 2,000 km and the railroad runs from Herat to the Afghan-Tajik border and, after crossing Tajikistan, passes through Kyrgyzstan, where it will reach China’s Xinjiang region via the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad.
This railroad is part of Iran’s wider goal of establishing sanction-proof corridors in the region. In light of this, both Iran and Afghanistan share the objective of undermining Western sanctions.
By linking the Khaf-Herat railroad to broader rail networks, Iran aims to take advantage of regional overland trade routes.
