Uzbekistan approves agreement on feasibility studies for the “Nayibabad-Kharlachi” section of the Trans-Afghan Railway

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a special decree approving an international agreement to prepare feasibility studies for the Nayibabad-Kharlachi section of the Trans-Afghan Railway and confirmed the country’s official participation.

The agreement sets out the framework for trilateral cooperation between the Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Public Works of Afghanistan, and the Ministry of Railways of Pakistan, and focuses on feasibility studies for the new railway line.

The proposed route extends from Termez Naibabad, Logar City Square, to Kharlachi, connecting Central Asia to South Asia through Afghanistan.

The studies will be conducted by the Tripartite Office for the Development of the International Transport Corridors Strategy based in Tashkent with representatives in Kabul and Islamabad.

The Trans-Afghan project, which has been proposed since 2018, is estimated to cost between $7 and $8.2 billion, and one of its implementation models is public-private partnership (build, operate, and transfer).