Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has approved an international agreement on a feasibility study for the Trans-Afghan railway, establishing a framework for a regional transport corridor linking Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.
Uzbek state media reported that the agreement was endorsed on Wednesday, February 11, and that the country’s transport ministry had been designated as the body responsible for implementing the project.
The joint agreement provides for technical and economic studies of a railway expected to connect Uzbekistan to Pakistan’s Kharlachi border crossing via Afghanistan. The Trans-Afghan railway is envisioned as a major regional transport corridor linking Central Asia with South Asia.
Mirziyoyev also instructed the foreign ministry to notify Pakistan and Afghanistan that Uzbekistan has completed its internal procedures related to the project.
The framework agreement was signed in January last year by representatives of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The planned railway route is expected to pass through Termez, Naibabad, Maidan Shahr, Logar and Kharlachi.
A joint coordination office for the corridor was established in mid-2023 and operates under Uzbekistan Railways in Tashkent.
The Trans-Afghan railway project was first proposed in 2018. Once completed, the corridor is expected to transport around 20 million tonnes of goods annually.
Initial construction costs were estimated at about $5 billion, but representatives of the three countries revised the projected cost to about $7 billion in 2023.
