The Trans-Afghan Railway: the not-so-clear involvement of Russian Railways in the feasibility studies
In my recent article for RUSI I highlight the ambiguous role of Russian Railways in the Trans-Afghan railway project feasibility studies:
‘Russia considers the Trans-Afghan railway as an eastern branch of the Kremlin’s ongoing ambitions vis-à-vis the INSTC project. Russian Railways are also reportedly taking part in the Trans-Afghan railway feasibility study.
Although its role appears to not be clearly defined by Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, who are also involved in the project. Earlier this year in April 2025, the press service of the Russian Trade Mission in Uzbekistan stated that Russia and Uzbekistan will together be involved in the design and planning of the Trans-Afghan route as part of the feasibility study.
However a few months later in July, an agreement was signed only between Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan to participate in the feasibility preparation of the Trans-Afghan railway. Yet later on the 9 September 2025, Sergey Pavlov, the First Deputy General Director of Russian Railways gave an interview to Kommersant, a Russian news outlet, and stated that Russian Railways are actively taking part in the feasibility study of the Trans-Afghan railway together with their Uzbek counterparts.
More specifically Pavlov stated that Russian Railways are currently working on the Trans-Afghan feasibility preparation by ‘assessing the impact of implementation, forecasting the freight base, calculating the rolling stock fleet, planning the elements of the traffic management system, and so on. The results will determine the cost, timeframe and feasibility of constructing such a corridor.’
You can read the full article here: https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/why-central-asia-focuses-so-much-railways
The photo I took while crossing the Termez-Hairaton Friendship bridge back in 2012, the year when the Termez-Mazar Sharif railway line was completed.