Afghanistan has four railway lines in the north and northwest of the country. The first is between Mazar-i-Sharif and Hairatan in Balkh Province, which then connects with Uzbek Railways of Uzbekistan (opened 2011). The second links Torghundi in Herat Province with Turkmen Railways of Turkmenistan (opened 1960). The third is between Turkmenistan and Aqina in Faryab Province of Afghanistan (opened in 2016), which extends south to the city of Andkhoy. The country currently lacks a passenger rail service, but a new rail link from Herat in Afghanistan to Khaf in Iran for both cargo and passengers is under construction. Passenger service is also proposed in Hairatan â Mazar-i-Sharif section and Mazar-i-Sharif â Aqina section.
Afghanistan's rail network is in the developing stage. The current rail lines are to be extended in the near future, with plans to include cargo and passenger services. This will connect the four subcontinents of Asia through Afghanistan.
In the 1920s, King Amanullah bought three small steam locomotives from Henschel of Kassel in Germany, which were put to work on a gauge roadside railway, long, linking Kabul and Darulaman. The December 1922 issue of The Locomotive magazine includes: "Travellers from Afghanistan state a railway is being laid down for a distance of some six miles from Kabul to the site of the new city of Darulaman, and also that some of the rolling stock for it is being manufactured in the Kabul workshops". The August 1928 issue of The Locomotive magazine mentions: "The only railway at present in Afghanistan is five miles long, between Kabul and Darulaman". The tramway closed (date unknown), and was dismantled in the 1940s, but the locomotives were held, outdoors, at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Darulaman.
Over the 19th century and a half, plenty of proposals have been made about building railways in Afghanistan. In 1885, the New York Times wrote about plans for connecting the Russian Transcaspian Railway, then under construction, with British India via Sarakhs, Herat, and Kandahar. When completed, the project would allow British officers to travel from London to British India, mostly by rail, in 11 to 12 days (crossing the English Channel, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea by boat).
About 1928, proposals were put forward for a railway to link Jalalabad with Kabul, eventually connecting to the then-British Indian system at Peshawar. Lines to join Kabul with Kandahar and Herat would follow later. Owing to political upheavals these plans were not implemented.
In 1930s, the Japanese Ministry of Railways proposed from Tokyo to Paris via Busan (through Korea Strait undersea tunnel), Beijing, Baotou, Turfan, Kashgar, Kabul, Tehran, Baghdad, Istanbul with connection to Berlin and Rome but never realised at the beginning of the World War II.
In the 1950s a hydroelectric power station was built at Surobi, east of Kabul. Three Henschel four-wheel narrow gauge diesel-hydraulic locomotives built in 1951 (works numbers 24892, 24993, 24994) were supplied to the power station.
In 1979 mining and construction locomotive builder Bedia Maschinenfabrik of Bonn supplied five D35/6 two axle diesel-hydraulic narrow gauge locomotives, works numbers 150âÂÂ154, to an unknown customer in Afghanistan.
On 24 March 2026 Afghanistan was suspended from the OTIF for not paying contributions, losing its voting rights in the organization, the suspension was announced to be in practice since 1 January 2026 until dues are paid.
Until the 21st century, less than of railway existed inside Afghanistan, which was built to Russian gauge. For strategic reasons, past Afghan governments averted the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by Britain or Russia. The gauges in adjacent countries were:
In 2010, the international "standard gauge" was chosen to be the country's railway gauge. The Khaf-Herat railway, a joint project between Afghanistan and Iran completed in 2020, was built to that gauge. it was long, of which was in Afghanistan; the remainder was in Iran. It links Afghan with Turkey, Europe and Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf.
There are currently no passenger services or stations in Afghanistan. If any of the various cross-border links are completed and opened to passenger service, new stations will have to be built.
Details of the preliminary list of stations to be served, which circle the central mountains of Afghanistan are available.
The Afghan government planned to form a railway construction commission with technical cooperation provided by the European Commission, which was discussed at the G8 meeting in July 2011. The commission would be responsible for supervising construction of a rail network within the country and its connection with the country's neighbors. In October 2011, the Asian Development Bank approved funding for Afghanistan's national rail authority. The Afghanistan Railway Authority has a website but, as of August 2017, there is very little on it. It does state that Afghanistan Railway Law (12 chapters and 105 clauses) was drafted in February 2013 and is awaiting approval from "relevant institutions". Training has been provided by the United States Army's Afghanistan Railroad Advisory Team (ARAT).
The Khaf-Herat railway is long, with of the track traversing Afghanistan and the remaining running through Iran. The construction of the Khaf-Herat rail line, which links Khaf in eastern Iran with Herat in western Afghanistan, began back in 2007.
The Iranian railhead closest to the Afghan border is at Khaf near Mashhad, and this is a standard gauge freight line. Since 2002, Afghans and Iranians have been planning to extend this line east to Herat in Afghanistan. The line is currently operational to as far as Rozanak station in the Ghorian District of Herat Province.
The Khaf-Herat rail route has four sections, two in Iran and two in Afghanistan. Within Iran, section 1, running from Khaf to Sangan (), was completed in September 2016. Section 2, from Sangan to the AfghanistanâÂÂIran border at Shamtiq (), was completed in October 2017. Section 3, running within Afghanistan from the border at ShamtiqâÂÂJono to Rozanak in Ghorian District () was completed in December 2020. On May 9, 2023, the first trial run of cargo from Iran to Afghanistan via the Khaf-Herat railway was completed. This shipment included 17 wagons that transferred 655 tons of railway equipment that will be used in the further construction of the rail line.
Section 4 is the line from Rozanak to Guzara District (). Work is ongoing on this section, which ends at an industrial area next to Herat International Airport. In September 2024 work on Khaf-Herat railway had resumed simultaneously with the Torghundi-Herat railway from Turkmenistan. In April 2025 Iranian officials announced that the Khaf-herat railway would be completed by March 2026.
On 22 October 2025 Afghan, Iranian and Turkish officials discussed the Herat - Mazar-i-Sharif railway as part of the FNRC at the UIC summit in Istanbul, a USD $10 million feasibility study was agreed with completion scheduled in March 2026.
On 25 October 2025, Iranian officials stated that the Chabahar-Zahedan railway was 84% complete and was expected to be fully constructed by Nowruz (20 March 2026), the railway is a vital corridor for Afghanistan's potential alternative to Karachi and Gwadar.
In the first weeks of November 2025, Afghanistan was said to have imported 5,000 tonnes of diesel by rail via the Khaf-Herat railway. In February 2026 Iranian officials reported expansion of railway station in Afghanistan as well as railway trade reaching 94,000 tons in Bahman of the same year.
There is currently no rail link between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Two broad gauge Pakistan Railways lines with steep gradients terminate on the border at Chaman and Torkham. In July 2010, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for laying rail tracks but the project was soon canceled. It was to connect Quetta in Pakistan with Kandahar in Afghanistan and Peshawar in Pakistan with Jalalabad in Afghanistan. On May 29, 2012, the section from Chaman in Pakistan to Spin Boldak in Afghanistan () was approved, though it never started.
A multination rail link was planned between Afghanistan and Tajikistan in March 2013. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway was planned to run on the Kerki-Ymamnazar-Aqina-Andkhoy-Mazar-i-Sharif-Kholm, Tajik and Afghan officials could not finalize on the final afghan section of the railway with Afghans wanting to extend the railway to Kunduz and then having it turn to the Tajik border making it long in Afghanistan while Tajik officials wished for the railway to extend to Kaldar near Hairatan from Kholm where the railway would join the tajik border making the railway long inside Afghanistan.
In 2018 a extension from Kolkhozobod in Tajikistan to the Afghan crossing at Sher Khan Bandar via Panji Poyon (Lower Panj) was approved with construction expected to start that year.
On February 3 2021 the Tajik ministry of transport announced that it needed US $128 million to construct the Tajik section of the TAT Railway that passed through the Jaloliddin Balkhi and Panj Districts.
A feasibility study funded by KOICA was approved on 30 July 2024 for the TAT Railway Tajik section. The feasibility study involved the study of the long Jaloliddin Balkhi-Jayhun-Panji Poyon route involving 28 bridges and 160 drainage systems. The cost of the feasibility study alone reached USD $4 million.
A line extends from Serhetabat in Turkmenistan to the town of Torghundi in Afghanistan. An upgrade of this Soviet-built line dating back to the 1960s, using Russian gauge, began in 2007. In April 2016, an agreement was reached for a technical feasibility study for a proposal to extend this line approximately to the city of Herat, where it could connect to the standard-gauge line to Iran that is being built. In accordance with earlier decisions, the line is likely to be standard gauge, with break of gauge at Torghundi. In April 2018 it was decided by the Turkmen government to build a railway from Galkynysh Gas Field in the direction of Afghanistan, towards Torghundi.
Another rail line was opened further east in November 2016, connecting Aqina in Faryab province via Ymamnazar with Atamyrat/Kerki in Turkmenistan. Work on a extension to Andkhoy soon began, which was completed in January 2021. The turkmen seciton alone is long.
It is planned to become part of a rail corridor through northern Afghanistan, connecting it via Sheberghan to Mazar-i Sharif and on to the border of Tajikistan.
On 11 September 2024 a $40 million USD project was commenced to extend the 1,520 mm railway to Sangbor.
In late February 2025, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan signed several MoUs regarding several matters including the expansion of the Torghundi railway station, completion of the {cvt|10|km} section of Aqina-Andkhoy railway and the continuation of construction of the Torghundi-Sangbar. The initiation of a feasibility study for the Andkhoy-Sheberghan railway was also discussed, the planned route was through the districts of Khan Char Bagh and Khwaja Du Koh in Jowzjan with future plans involving connection to Mazar-i-Sharif.
On 24 April 2025, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan signed a protocol of intent to begin the construction of the Torghundi-Herat-Kandahar-Spin Boldak railway line, the meeting was led by the Kazakh minister of national economy Serik JumanÃÂarin. Talks included the building of a fibreoptic cable along the railway as well as expansion of dryports and use of AIFC as a regional financial hub.
On 11 July 2025 the kazakh foreign minister Murat Nurtileu signed a USD $500 million in Kabul in support of the Herat-Torghundi railway line.
In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union built an approximately rail line from Termez in Uzbekistan to Kheyrabad in Afghanistan, crossing the Amu Darya river on the AfghanistanâÂÂUzbekistan Friendship Bridge.
In January 2010, construction began on a extension line between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan; this line is also Russian gauge as the first one built by the Soviets. The line, which starts from Hairatan to Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi International Airport in Mazar-i-Sharif, was operated by Uzbekistan's national railway Uzbekiston Temir Yullari for a three-year-term until Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) took over responsibility. The first freight services began running around August 2011.
Uzbekistan has pledged in 2018 to part fund a major rail link from Mazar-i-Sharif west to Herat, which could create a route from Iran via Herat to Central Asia and potentially the Wakhjir Pass in Wakhan District of Badakhshan Province.
In September 2010, China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) signed an agreement with the Afghan Minister of Mines to investigate construction of a northâÂÂsouth railway across Afghanistan, running from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul and then to the eastern border town of Torkham. MCC was recently awarded a copper mining concession at Mes Aynak which would be linked to this railway. MCC is constructing a gauge railway line that will link Kabul with Uzbekistan in the north and Pakistan in the east.
The initial phase of railway construction from 2010 sees the creation of five break-of-gauge stations.
In late 2016 updates, there are multiple breaks-of-gauge. These include: / in the northern area, and // at Herat.