INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The first load of freight from China to Afghanistan on a new road and rail route transiting Central Asia arrived in Hairatan, in northern
Afghanistan, on Thursday.Twelve containers, carrying mostly vehicle parts, took only 11 days to reach Afghanistan.The new multimodal route
starts in China&s northwestern Xinjiang province then passes through Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan before entering Afghanistan.The cargo
traveled along the first stage & around 500 kilometers from the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang to Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan & by road since
there is no rail link, although one is planned eventually.The first containers left Kashgar on September 13, the RailFreight.com website
reported.At Osh, the cargo was loaded onto trains to link up with Uzbekistan&s rail network across the border in Andijan.They then crossed
eastern Uzbekistan and headed south into Afghanistan to arrive at Hairatan, which links with the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif
along an Uzbek-built railway line.The journey on the new route took only 11 days & compared to one to three months for the current route
used to send cargo from China to Afghanistan through Pakistan via the seaport of Karachi and overland.China and Afghanistan have been trying
to get a rail connection off the ground for years.In 2016, the first cargo train traveled from China to Hairatan through Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan, loaded with textiles and household goods
But it took another three years before any cargo moved back along the route to China, when a train loaded with talcum powder made the
journey in 2019.The route across Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is now undergoing a three-month pilot, and should eventually carry some 4,000
containers annually.The post New road, rail link sees Chinese cargo arrive in Hairatan after only 11 days first appeared on Ariana News.
