Potential for Russian freight shipments on Trans-Afghan Railway put at 8 mln-15 mln tpy

TASHKENT. April 28 (Interfax) - The projection for Russian freight shipments along the planned Trans-Afghan Railway is expected to be completed in 2026, but it is tentatively estimated at 8 million-15 million tonnes per year, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said during a visit to the Innoprom: Central Asia international exhibition in Uzbekistan.

"The transport agencies of the two countries, together with the Russian and Uzbek railways, are now continuing work on the project to build the Trans-Afghan Railway, including development of the feasibility study of the project for the western [Mazari-i-Sharif - Herat - Dilaram - Kandahar - Chaman] and eastern [Termez - Naibabad - Logar - Kharlachi] routes," Manturov told Interfax.

"The Russian and Uzbek railways signed an agreement in April of this year on sharing information in the development of the feasibility study. We expect that the calculation of forecast shipping volumes, as well as the estimate for the cost effectiveness of the future routes will be completed next year," he said.

Preliminary data show that potential shipments of Russian freight along the future railway could total up to 8 million-15 million tonnes per year, "depending on the new route's competitiveness by delivery time and cost," Manturov said.

"The main volumes will probably be fertilizer, oil freight, ferrous metals, hard coal and so on," he added.

The Trans-Afghan Transport Corridor is supposed to connect the European Union, Russia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Southeast Asian countries. Uzbekistan announced in 2023 that it had reached agreements with a number of countries on implementing this project, the main participants in which are Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A preliminary agreement on Russia's participation in the project was reached during Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's visit to Moscow in April 2024, and at the end of last year Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk announced the development of a feasibility study for the project.

Uzbekistan's Transport Ministry estimated earlier that the construction of the Trans-Afghan Railway could take at least five years and tentatively cost $4.8 billion.