MOSCOW, May 16: Russia and Uzbekistan are conducting a feasibility survey work in Afghanistan for the Trans-Afghanistan Railway project, which, if implemented, will provide access to landlocked central Asian countries to the Indian subcontinent, Russian ministers said Friday.
The feasibility study of the trans-Afghan railway is due to be ready in early 2026, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said at the 16th international economic forum Russia-Islamic World: KazanForum 2025.
The trans-Afghan transport corridor will connect the European Union, Russia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Southeast Asia. Uzbekistan’s southern-most town Termez is already linked with North Afghanistan’s Khairaton by the Soviet built railway.
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“Russian and Uzbek railway specialists are drafting the feasibility study of the trans-Afghan railway construction project together. We are expecting the project feasibility study to be ready in early 2026 so that decisions on its implementation could be made,” Overchuk was quoted by independent Interfax news agency as saying.
State-run news agency TASS reported quoted Russian Deputy Transport Minister Dmitry Zverev as describing that the Trans-Afghan Highway will fundamentally change the geography and transport geography of the region.
“Thanks to the multilateral working group, surveys are currently underway on the territory of Afghanistan. They are being carried out by Uzbek Railways together with Russian colleagues, which will allow us to prepare the primary material for the preparation of a feasibility study,” Zverev announced at the Russia-Islamic World: KazanForum 2025 forum being held in Muslim-majority region Tatarstan’s capital Kazan.
Interfax said a preliminary agreement on Russia’s participation in the project was reached in early April 2024, during Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Moscow.
The Uzbek Transport Ministry said earlier it would take at least five years to build the trans-Afghan railway, the tentative cost of which might reach USD 4.8 billion, it added. (PTI)
