Minister: Iran to Link Railway System to Int'l Network

"Five projects are underway to link Iran's railroad to the international network, and these projects include linking Sarakhs to Azerbaijan Republic, Khosravi to Iraq, Shalamcheh to Iraq, Chabahar to the South sea and Iran to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and China," Nikzad said on Sunday.

He said that Iran has different plans to link its railway system to the neighboring countries and numerous projects are being implemented to this end.

Earlier this month, Nikzad had underlined that the joint railway connecting national networks of Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan will come into operation soon.

The railway will link Iran to Turkmenistan and then to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and will connect the CIS countries with the Indian Ocean and high seas and the Persian Gulf littoral states.

The primary agreement on the construction of the rail link among Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was signed between presidents of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in April 2007 in the city of Turkmenbashi and its final agreement was signed in a summit meeting in Tehran in September of the same year by the three presidents.

The total route of the railway is 1000 kilometers, of which 90 kilometers would be in Iran, 700 kilometers in Turkmenistan and 210 kilometers in Kazakhstan.

The railway facilitates transportation of goods from the Central Asian countries to the Persian Gulf.

Fars News