Afghanistan connection?

According to some preliminary reports, the German Bundeswehr is planning to build a 67-km rail link into Afghanistan to ease logistics.

The plan entails partially reactivating Soviet 80s plans from the 80s of a 200 km railroad line from Hairatan on the Uzbekistan border via Mazar-i-Sharif to Pul-i-Khumri. Hairatan already had a rail connection to Uzbekistan built in the 80s, and is through that tied into the entire ex-Soviet freight line network. Most importantly, it's directly tied to the local network of the Uzbek city Termez, where the primary German logistics base for the Central-Asian region is located. The current plans would see the 67 km from Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif built, where the primary German base in Afghanistan is located. Current operations see transport to Termez, mostly by air, then reloading onto smaller planes there to fly into Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Bundeswehr has already secured transit rights for military freight from the Russian government. Currently, they're hoping to obtain developmental aid money to help in the project, as this rail link would also benefit local transport in Northern Afghanistan, obviously, and would stabilize the local economy through building contracts.

The same project was already considered by US officials and private agents in 2004, but dropped in 2005 when the USA were kicked out of Uzbekistan essentially. Estimates from 2004 saw the project at roughly $210 million investment; no current estimate has been published.

Currently, there are less than 25 km of operational railways in Afghanistan.

This is an interesting proposal. I note however, that a former king of Afghanistan said that Afghanistan would not build railways until they could do it themselves, without foreigners.

I think the various rebels would resist the building and operation.
It's a pity as I can imagine Afghanistan becoming like Switzerland (yes, really).

In Germany where privatization of the railway and the Military employment in Afghanistan is actually very unpopular, people jokes that Germany will get a new Bundesbahn (Federal Railway, Deutsche Bundesbahn was the name of the former State railway of West-Germany) regrettably however in the Hindu Kush...

http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/s ... opens.html

The above railway to Mazar-i-Sharif opened last week after about 18 months of construction. It will be operated by Uzbek national carrier UTY.
However from comments of German soldiers stationed in the area it seems that while the line is opened it's not operable yet.

I read online (from a link on the Defense Language Institiute website) that this line was financed by China and Iran, and since Afghanistan has no qualified personnel to operate it, the Uzbek National Railway is the designated operator. I think I remember the article saying that the line is 76km long. I never heard anything about the Bundeswehr having any hands-on involvement in this project.

Kevin, are you a DLI alum? I was there 79-80. I imagine Uzbek, et al, are high demand languages right now. There's always Rosetta Stone.

Curious, though, as to why DLI would be covering it? Do you have a link?

Here is an account of the railway

http://www.andrewgrantham.co.uk/afghani ... -i-sharif/

kevin.brackney wrote:I read online that this line was financed by China and Iran

The funding comes from the Asian Development Bank. $165 out of 170 million project cost, rest is covered by the Afghan government. Official from NATO. Depending on who you ask the people behind that money are either China/Iran or USA/Japan.
Detailed project expose from ADB: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Environmen ... FG-IEE.pdf

kevin.brackney wrote:I never heard anything about the Bundeswehr having any hands-on involvement in this project.

The Bundeswehr issued the planning and set up some requirements (regarding e.g. capacity, combination terminal at MiS Airport (= German air base)), then had someone else develop it. Standard practice for Afghanistan. And the Bundeswehr, nowadays.

No. Not a DLI alum; but took the Dari Rapport course during mobilization training at Camp Shelby, MS. I have been on the DLI site recently studying Russian. Tried to go to DLI when I entered the Marine Corps, but ended up as a payroll clerk instead.

This is somewhat related to this topic: When I was in the 226th TC Co. at Westover ARB (when it still fell under the aegis of the 1205th); the Battalion Commander of the 757th TC Bn (Railway Operating) through the 1205th asked for volunteers to go to Iraq back in 2004 to be advisors to the Iraqi Railway. I volunteered; but of course that mission never happened.

To Afghanistan, on the slow train
By Tim Lister, CNN
November 29, 2011 -- Updated 1740 GMT (0140 HKT)

(CNN) -- Call it the ultimate in military logistics. As land routes from Pakistan into Afghanistan are cut, sabotaged or otherwise interrupted, the U.S. military has developed alternative railroad routes that make the Orient Express look like a branch line.

They are called -- rather prosaically -- the Northern Distribution Network, or NDN. The main route begins at the port of Riga in Latvia, from where freight trains roll across Russia, and continues along the edge of the Caspian Sea. It crosses the deserts of Kazakhstan and into Uzbekistan. About 10 days after beginning their odyssey, the containers cross into Afghanistan, carrying everything from computers and socks to toilet paper and bottled water.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/29/world ... index.html

The first German military transport on that route ran almost exactly 10 years ago - started 18th December 2011. To my knowledge the USA still don't have any transit permission for military goods through Russia. Hence why the list in the article consists of non-military goods only. Germany has also transported ammunition, armoured vehicles and such to AFG by rail before, though more recently this is mostly suspended for security reasons.

Regarding the stretching of the US Military Airlift Command - huh? 40% of all air transport (both freight and passengers!) into Afghanistan runs on German military and civilian aircraft, using German bases in Uzbekistan.

And as for Riga as a starting point - you just drive it from the (US) supply depots in Germany to the Polish-Belarussian border. By rail of course. Then use the facilities there to transfer the containers to a 1520mm gauge train. That's provided you have transit permission from Poland and Belarus of course, which certain countries don't have...

And as for Riga as a starting point - you just drive it from the (US) supply depots in Germany to the Polish-Belarussian border. By rail of course. Then use the facilities there to transfer the containers to a 1520mm gauge train. That's provided you have transit permission from Poland and Belarus of course, which certain countries don't have...

There is a 1520 terminal in Poland and another in Slovakia. There has been a proposal to extend it to Vienna.

Interestingly, there is an EU plan to build a 1435 line to Lithuania (being built), Latvia, and Estonia, converting some of the Russian gauge lines and integrating these new EU members into the main network. (Source: Modern Railways magazine, December 2011).

kato wrote:The first German military transport on that route ran almost exactly 10 years ago - started 18th December 2011. To my knowledge the USA still don't have any transit permission for military goods through Russia. Hence why the list in the article consists of non-military goods only. Germany has also transported ammunition, armoured vehicles and such to AFG by rail before, though more recently this is mostly suspended for security reasons.

Regarding the stretching of the US Military Airlift Command - huh? 40% of all air transport (both freight and passengers!) into Afghanistan runs on German military and civilian aircraft, using German bases in Uzbekistan.

And as for Riga as a starting point - you just drive it from the (US) supply depots in Germany to the Polish-Belarussian border. By rail of course. Then use the facilities there to transfer the containers to a 1520mm gauge train. That's provided you have transit permission from Poland and Belarus of course, which certain countries don't have...

The Luftwaffe doesn't have much airlift capacity, the Transall C-160 is a theater tactical transport, with less capacity than a C-130.

JayBee wrote:The Luftwaffe doesn't have much airlift capacity, the Transall C-160 is a theater tactical transport, with less capacity than a C-130.

... that's tactical airlift. The more important aircraft for Afghanistan supply are the Lw A310s and the German-chartered (and -based) Ruslan-SALIS An124 and Il76M.
The US in comparison relies on chartered Soviet models for tactical airlift in Afghanistan.

kato wrote:

JayBee wrote:The Luftwaffe doesn't have much airlift capacity, the Transall C-160 is a theater tactical transport, with less capacity than a C-130.

... that's tactical airlift. The more important aircraft for Afghanistan supply are the Lw A310s and the German-chartered (and -based) Ruslan-SALIS An124 and Il76M.
The US in comparison relies on chartered Soviet models for tactical airlift in Afghanistan.

4 convertible cargo/passenger A310s
1 pure passenger A310
4 convertible tanker/cargo/passenger A310s
9 A310s total

Obviously the chartered capacity is far more important. But flying in bulky items like food and other consumeables is very expensive. Ground and sea transport is more economical if it is possible. I doubt that containers that are being transhipped at Riga are coming from Germany. More likely they are coming direct from CONUS.