The 'new Dunkirk' - British forces to use Tsars' railway to travel 3,500 miles home by train from Afghanistan



British military commanders are planning to use Russian railways, built by the Tsars 140 years ago, to bring home hundreds of millions of pounds worth of equipment from Afghanistan.

After a decade of war, they face the awesome task of shifting a colossal mass of hardware more than 3,500 miles across Europe to bases in Germany and the UK by the time British troops pull out in 2014.

The tally of goods used in the war against the Taliban since 2001 includes armoured vehicles, trucks, aircraft, helicopters, artillery, mortars, temporary buildings and medical centres.

Making tracks: British military commanders are planning to use Russian railways to bring home hundreds of millions of pounds worth of equipment from Afghanistan

To prepare for one of the biggest logistics exercises they have ever undertaken, Army, Navy and RAF chiefs have been visiting former Soviet states bordering Afghanistan to draw up a masterplan for what has been dubbed the ‘new Dunkirk’.

The idea being discussed with military and political figures in the Russian states envisages using the world’s most powerful cargo locomotives to pull up to 170 wagons along railway lines first used by the Tsars and later by Stalin.

Today, the Privolzhskaya railway from Uzbekistan into Russia and the Northern Caucasus lines from Russia into Ukraine, transport heavy loads of oil, metals, cement and chemicals across wastelands, where snow-clearing trains often have to be used when winter temperatures drop as low as -30C (-22F).

The potentially dangerous train journey from the Russian states through Poland, Germany, Belgium and France would take up to 30 days and possibly even longer if the ‘great escape’ is interrupted by rebel bomb attacks, mudslides or avalanches.

The trains are likely to be protected by heavily armed soldiers from both the British and Russian armies riding ‘shotgun’.





The long route home is expected to start from a major freight terminal near the airport at Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

The equipment, most of which is in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, will then be taken on a newly constructed 46-mile stretch of railway line to the Afghan border from where it will link with Uzbekistan’s existing rail network at Termez.

The first loco would probably be the Russian-built GT1-001 whose 8,300 kilowatt engine can operate using either electrified lines or liquefied natural gas. During recent trials it hauled 170 rail cars weighing 16,000 tons and it has a top speed of 62mph.



The Afghan rail tracks have the same gauge as Russia and Poland but it is different in Europe and so the hardware, much of it in containers, will have be moved on to different wagons when it reaches Germany.



Larger armoured vehicles would be lifted individually before the journey continues through Belgium and France to Calais.

Once there, the military gear would either be transported by rail through the Channel Tunnel or be offloaded to be taken by ship to the Marchwood military port in Southampton.

The Ministry of Defence, which has a £36 billion black hole in its finances, is desperate to find the cheapest way of getting its valuable military equipment back from Afghanistan over the next three years.

Big journey: The military gear may be transported by rail through the Channel Tunnel

The alternatives would be to ship the hardware back by sea or fly it home on massive transport aircraft. The maritime option would be hugely time-consuming and leave Britain’s naval capability stretched.

An airlift would mean renting a fleet of giant transport planes – probably huge Russian Antonovs – which would cost a fortune. That is why the railways option has become favourite.

A senior Whitehall source said: ’We need to get this equipment back to our bases in Germany and the UK as efficiently and cheaply as possible. The idea is to get the best deal possible for the taxpayer. It’s a mammoth task because we have been sending equipment to Afghanistan since 2001.’



Military sources say that vehicles and equipment considered to be of no further use will be left in Afghanistan when the troops pull out. This could include damaged or worn-out vehicles and electrical generators.



The remainder will be brought back to Britain or Germany, or, if no longer required for training or operations, sold off to other countries.

Last week, the Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff Air Vice Marshal Graham Howard visited Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, for talks.



He was accompanied by two other officers, Captain Jonathan Holloway, a former naval attache in Moscow, and Lt Commander Robert Cogan, a logistics and IT specialist.



In late August, Air Vice Marshal Howard also visited Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Major General Jeff Mason, Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Logistical Operations), visited Tashkent, in March.

Among his meetings was one with the Uzbek Minister of Defence Mr Kabul Berdiev, who welcomed the new Defence Attache at the British Embassy, Wing Commander Steve Chaskin.

The discussions focused on Afghanistan.

The director of the Foreign Office’s department for East Europe and Central Asia, Laurie Bristow, was received at the Uzbek foreign ministry on July 1 on a two-day visit.

An MoD spokesman said last night: ‘As part of any enduring operation, we engage with our international partners on a range of issues which include logistics and finding the most appropriate way of moving material and equipment.