Rail gauge in Afghanistan

Rail gauge in Afghanistan is at present undetermined, and presents several difficulties which have hampered the progress of transportation in that country.

Afghanistan is the cross-roads of Asia and yet is almost completely without railways. [ [http://www.ajg41.clara.co.uk/afghanistan.html Railways in Afghanistan] ]

There is less than 25 kilometres of railway inside the country, all of which is built to RailGauge|1524 broad gauge. For strategic reasons, past Afghan governments preferred to discourage the construction of railways which could aid foreign interference in Afghanistan by Britain or Russia. [ [http://www.ajg41.clara.co.uk/afghanistan.html Railways in Afghanistan, past and future] ]

Should it decide to build more than the two current short lines from the former USSR, the choice of gauge will be complicated by its being surrounded by three different gauges. Iran to the west uses standard gauge, as does China to the east; to the south, Pakistan uses RailGauge|1676 gauge, while to the north, the central Asian republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan use 1,520 mm gauge.

Afghanistan has a break-of-gauge problem at every border. The gauges used in adjacent countries are:
* Iran, China: RailGauge|1435
* Former Soviet republics: RailGauge|1524
* Pakistan: RailGauge|1676

Current plans are to extend neighbouring railways and gauges into Afghanistan. In the long term this would leave the country with a mixed system that aids cross-border traffic but hinders internal traffic. Dual gauge track is feasible between RailGauge|1435 and RailGauge|1676, however RailGauge|1524 gauge is too close to the other two to support dual gauge except by using 4 rails.

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