Afghan railway history
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Other than two short cross-border lines from the north, there are no functioning railways in Afghanistan today. Railways were planned, and at least one was built but is now dismantled.
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[edit] Kabul tramway
In the 1920s, King Amanullah bought three small steam locomotives from Henschel of Kassel in Germany, and these were put to work on a 7 km roadside tramway linking Kabul and Darulaman. The tramway closed (date unknown) but the locomotives still exist at Kabul museum in Darulaman.
[edit] Proposed railways
About 1928, proposals were put forward for a railway to link Jalalabad with Kabul, eventually connecting to the (then) Indian system at Peshawar. Lines to join Kabul with Kandahar and Herat would follow later. Owing to political upheavals these plans were not implemented.
[edit] Industrial diesels
In the 1950s a hydroelectric power station was built at Sarobi, east of Kabul. Three Henschel four-wheel 600 mm gauge diesel hydraulic locos 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 600 mm-gauge locomotives, works numbers 150-154, to an unknown customer in Afghanistan.
The fate of these locomotives is unknown.
