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Work on Aqina-Ankhoi railway line close to completion: Officials
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Afghanistan Railways Authority (ARA) said that construction work on the Aqina-Ankhoi railway line in northern Faryab province is 85 percent complete and that the transport link is expected to be launched within the next few months.
In a post on ARA’s Facebook page, the agency said the initial phase was completed last year and that construction work got underway this year.
Aqina is a border crossing in northern Afghanistan into Turkmenistan and is also a train station.
The new line from Ankhoi will connect to the existing railway line between Aqina and Atamyrat in Turkmenistan, which was officially opened in November 2016.
This line will eventually form part of a railway corridor through northern Afghanistan, and is part of government’s greater project to construct and operate an eventual network of railway lines around the country in order to connect directly with other Central Asian and European countries.
ARA officials meanwhile said the construction contract of the 31km-long stretch of the Aqina-Andkhoi railway line was signed between ARA and the Turkmenistan Ministry of Industries and Communications in February.
This latest development comes just over a week after the key Herat-Khaf railway line was officially inaugurated virtually by the presidents of Iran and Afghanistan.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani both spoke online at the ceremony and said the Herat-Khaf railway line will strengthen relations between Afghanistan and Iran and will considerably boost trade to their respective countries and beyond.
