Afghanistan’s Rail Freight Jumps 39% as Border Corridors Handle 6.1 Million Tonnes

Afghanistan moved about 6.1 million tonnes of goods by rail over the past year, according to officials. It's a sharp increase that points to the growing importance of cross-border freight links at a time when the country’s wider economy remains under severe strain.

According to Bakhtar News Agency, commercial freight transported through Afghanistan’s four railway gateways rose by 39.1% in the year 1404 compared with 1403, reaching 6,119,497 metric tonnes. The figures cover the border crossings at Hairatan, Aqeena, Torghundi and the Khaf–Herat railway line. By comparison, around 4.3 million tonnes were moved through the same routes a year earlier.

Xinhua reports that the largest share of this traffic, about 4.2 million tonnes, moved through northern Afghanistan, carrying the weight of the country’s rail links with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Officials say they strongly rely on rail for both trade and transit as the authorities try to improve transport infrastructure and deepen regional connections.

China, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey should build a freight rail link all the way from Shanghai to EU.
But as it will be dual tracked, it will also need to be double stacked, so enabling high capacity all the way. Think like the US freight rail roads mainlines. pic.twitter.com/kFrvcn83me

— Halken 🇪🇺 🇵🇸🇱🇧🍉 🇬🇪🇷🇸🇺🇦🌻 🇨🇺 (@TroelsHalken) March 26, 2026

The cargo mix shows how closely rail is tied to Afghanistan’s basic economic needs. Imports included fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, wheat, flour, cooking oil, cement, ceramic tiles, sugar, paper and other food and construction materials, according to Bakhtar. Export and transit volumes were much smaller, at 74,752 tonnes, consisting mainly of dried fruit, rice, potatoes, minerals, watermelon seeds, chickpeas, copper and pomegranate juice.

A Small Network with an Outsized Role

The rail growth is notable because Afghanistan still has only a very limited railway system. According to Railway Gazette, the country has roughly 160 km of operational railways, mostly short cross-border links rather than a connected national network. Services are essentially extensions of neighbouring systems from Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and there are no domestic passenger services and no nationwide freight railway in the usual sense.

That fragmented structure is the result of decades of conflict, weak state capacity, difficult geography and persistent geopolitical uncertainty. Railway Gazette notes that Afghanistan’s first significant rail links were built as cross-border freight connections rather than parts of a domestic system. Hairatan was later extended to Mazar-i-Sharif, Turkmenistan financed links to Towraghondi and Aqina, and Iran backed the Khaf–Herat line in the west. Ambitious proposals have long existed for deeper internal routes, including east-west and north-south corridors, but most remain on paper.

This is what makes the latest freight figures politically and economically important. Even a relatively small physical network can matter if it handles a rising share of critical imports and offers a more stable channel for regional trade than road transport alone.

Rail Growth Against a Much Darker Economic Backdrop

The increase also comes at a time when Afghanistan’s broader economy remains deeply fragile. According to the International Crisis Group, the country has been hit hard by aid cuts, sanctions, banking restrictions and years of underinvestment, leaving millions in poverty and basic services under pressure. In that context, any improvement in trade infrastructure matters beyond transport policy: it touches food supply, fuel access, construction activity and the country’s ability to function with less foreign assistance.

That does not mean rail is transforming the Afghan economy on its own. The rail volumes are still heavily concentrated on import flows, and the country remains far from having an integrated domestic network. But the latest numbers suggest that the existing corridors are becoming more important as economic lifelines, especially for bulk commodities that are difficult or costly to move by road.

There is also a regional angle. The more freight Afghanistan can move through Hairatan, Aqina, Torghundi and Khaf–Herat, the more relevant it becomes to surrounding trade corridors linking Central Asia, Iran and South Asia. That has long been the strategic argument behind proposals for new railways through Afghanistan, even if implementation has repeatedly stalled.