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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Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session in Tehran on Wednesday, Ardakanian said during the president’s trip to East Azarbaijan Province, the largest wind farm in Iran, which consists of 20 turbines with a total capacity to produce 50 megawatts (MW) of electricity, will be inaugurated.

The minister further said 9,600 billion rials ($8 million) in funding has been spent on the domestically made wind farm in Mianeh.

Speaking at a press conference in December 2018, Mohammad Sadeqzadeh, the director of Iran’s Renewable Energy and Electrical Energy Efficiency Organization, a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, said people and the private sector have made a huge investment in the renewable energy industry in recent years.

Even the “cruel sanctions” could not slow down the growth of the renewable energy industry in Iran, he said at the time, adding that local investment has now outstripped foreign investment in this sector.

Iran is seeking 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020, with more than 4,000 megawatts expected to come from wind power. The country has approximately 141 megawatts of installed wind power.

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