Iran-Afghanistan railway line officially launched

Tehran, Dec 10 (IANS) A railway line linking Iran's Khaf city to Afghanistan's Herat was officially inaugurated on Thursday, according to media reports.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani participated in the inauguration ceremony via video conference, reports Xinhua news agency.On Thursday, 140 km out of the 225 km Khaf-Herat railroad was launched and the rest will be constructed in the next phase, the Tehran-based IRNA news agency said in a report.After the construction of the last part of the project, trains will reach a station in an industrial hub on the outskirts of Herat city, 640 km west of the Afghan capital Kabul.On December 3, the first trial freight train from Iran arrived in Ghoryan district of Herat, carrying 500 metric tonnes of cement.Iran is aiming to maximize its transit options through "various opportunities" and routes existing in Afghanistan with East Asian countries as a "very important" target for Iran's trade and communications, Minister of Road and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami had recently said.
--IANS ksk/