Train Service Opens on New Turkmen-Afghan Railway: Serhetabat–Torghundi

Train Service Opens on New Turkmen-Afghan Railway: Serhetabat–Torghundi

On February 23rd, 2018 commissioning of the Serhetabat–Torghundi railway line took place as one of events dedicated to the ground-breaking ceremony of the new section of the TAPI pipeline and laying of electric power transmission and fiber-optic communication network connection line along the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan route.

The celebration was attended by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Minister of State for External Affairs of the Republic of India, Mobashar Jawed Akbar, who have recently arrived in our country.

The first train started off today from Turkmenistan’s Serhetabat border-area station towards the Herat province of neighbouring Afghanistan. The goods that were transported on the freights along the new railway include oil products, food and industrial commodities, construction materials made in Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan entirely assumed the construction of the new Turkmenistan–Afghanistan railway line, as part of the comprehensive help and support to the people of Afghanistan. These issues were discussed at the 7th Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan which took place in Ashgabat in mid-November 2017, where agreements carrying significant importance for the whole region were reached. By the end of that very month, the Turkmen railway workers began the construction of the rail connection towards the town of Torghundi that has been commissioned today.

With the involvement of Afghanistan in the projects for establishing the extensive transport infrastructure, the country will have a unique opportunity to use its geographical advantages as the transport and transit hub on Eurasian continent.