Pointing out that the length of the country’s railway network has reached 14,000 kilometers, Mohammad Eslami said, “Eight rail lines in three provinces will be connected to the country’s railway network. The projects for connecting Kordestan, Ardebil, and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari provinces to the national network have a noticeable progress at the moment and will be inaugurated in the coming months.”

As the deputy minister has recently announced, 825 kilometers of railroads are going to be constructed across the country by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2022).

This year, eight railway projects are in priority, and with their opening, 825 km will be added to Iran’s railway, Kheirollah Khademi, who is also the managing director of Iran’s Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company (CDTIC), stated.

One of the priority railway lines in the present year was the Khaf-Herat railway, 140 km of which was built inside Afghanistan and was put into operation in recent months, and the second is the Yazd-Eqlid 271-km railway, which is almost completed, the official explained.

The Zahedan-Khash railway is also part of the north-south corridor, 150 km of which has been laid, and the process of adjusting its line is underway, and it seems that its operation will be final this year, he said, adding that the Bostan Abad-Tabriz railway with a progress of about 90 percent and a length of 44 km will be ready to open in the near future.

The Rasht-Caspian Railway, as an important part of the 37-kilometer north-south corridor with a progress of about 70 percent can be put into operation as one of the country’s rail priorities by the end of this year, he noted.

Also, the Hamedan-Sanandaj railway line is 151 km long and has a physical progress of 76 percent, Khademi added.

The development of the railway industry has also been among the top priority plans of the governments in recent years.

The country’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021) has envisaged that the railway will account for at least 30 percent of cargo transportation and 20 percent of passenger transportation in Iran.

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Saeed Rasouli announced the visit of ambassadors and railway officials of some countries from the Jihadi Center of Iran Railway Progress and noted that during the visit, the visitors expressed willing of their countries for cooperation and interaction with Iran in the fields of technology and education.

He also revealed the constructive interactions of Iran with neighboring countries in the field of rail transportation, adding that the country has good cooperation with other countries of the UIC members due to the good position of Iran in the structure of the UIC.

Rasouli noted that visiting diplomats and railway officials of the countries have hailed the Jihadi Center for Iran Railway Progress and they have expressed hope for cooperation and bilateral interactions with Iran.

He also announced that reconstruction of Jolfa-Armenia railroad will pave the way for setting up the Caspian–Black Sea Transit Corridor in the near future.

Rasouli pointed to the recent visit to Armenia made by an Iranian delegation to negotiate cooperation on railways development, noting that the Jolfa railway with the capacity of transiting seven million tons per annum was abandoned before the start of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Azerbaijan Republic and Armenia, but following a peace agreement mediated by Iran and Russia between Baku and Yerevan, the railroad is on the verge of restarting work.

The deputy minister of road and urban development added that Rasht-Astara railway is not completed, but the Caspian–Black Sea Transit Corridor has been linked and trains enter Astara terminal from Republic of Azerbaijan .

The completion of the western part of the corridor will connect Iran to the Black Sea in Rusia via Jolfa, Nakhchivan, Armenia, and Georgia, he noted.

Rasouli expressed hope that construction of 1,062 kilometers of the railroad will help transit 130 million tons of commodities per year.

The Islamic Republic of Iran broke a new record last year, when the railway system could transit 50 million tons of goods, the official stipulated, noting that it is expected that the number will increase to 100 million tons per year within five years.

He went on to say that the private sector has succeeded in manufacturing and reconstructing 1,793 freight wagons and locomotives in the last two years.

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The new railway, part of the old Tehran-Tabriz railway, will cut the distance between the two cities, and reduce travel time, IRNA reported.

The track reaches the provincial capital, Tabriz, a major business and industry hub in the region close to northwestern borders as well as the South Caucasus.

The 132-kilometer key railway is part of a long line connecting Mianeh to Tabriz.

Authorities said construction for the remaining part, a 42-kilometer line from Bostanabad to Tabriz, would conclude after March 2020.

Plans for construction of the Mianeh-Tabriz railway dubbed the “missing link” in the Iranian rail network, began 18 years ago when the government at the time sought to drastically shorten travel time between Tehran and Tabriz, currently Iran’s sixth-largest city.

Once finished, the railway would markedly boost cargo transportation from Iran’s east to the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkey and on toward continental Europe.

Iran’s railway network has expanded rapidly over the past decade with four new provincial capitals in mostly mountainous regions connected to the network over the past six years.

Government authorities said recently that the average track-laying work across the country had increased from 120 kilometers a year in 2013 to more than 180 kilometers in 2017.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – An Iranian parliament member ensured that the railway lines of Iran’s western Ardabil province and the Republic of Azerbaijani railway network will be connected in the future.

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