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Inaugurated Central Asia-Iran railway far from operational

Business Materials 29 January 2015 15:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 29

By Dalga Khatinoglu- Trend:

Two months after inauguration of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, Iranian official says the project would become operational in two to five years.

Agreement on the construction of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway was signed in 2007, while construction work began in 2009 and it was inaugurated on December 2, 2014 with participation of three states' presidents.

The railway length is 925 kilometers in total, with 85 kilometers on Iran's territory, 700 on Turkmenistan's territory and the remaining 140 on Kazakhstan's territory.

Preliminary estimates show that originally 3 to 5 million metric tons of cargos per year will be transported via this route. In the long term the transportation will increase to 10-12 million metric tons.

The project aims to make a connection between Central Asia and Persian Gulf through Iran. However, Iran's Mehr News Agency cited Iranian officials Jan.29 as saying that the project was completed only 27 percent before inauguration and it will take time to be operational.

The route will link Uzen in Kazakhstan with Gyzylgaya-Bereket-Etrek in Turkmenistan and end at Inche Borun on the border of Iran. Then it will be connected to Iran's national rail network, making its way to the Persian Gulf ports. However, There is no connection between Gorgan-Inche Borun and Iran's national rail network yet.

The deputy of governor of Iran's Golestan Province Ali Markadi told Mehr a part of the project hasn't been completed yet. A railway linking Inche Borun to Iran's Semnan Province needs to be constructed, then the Central Asian's railway grid can connect to Iran's railroad network and reach to the Persian Gulf, but the construction of the remaining route will take two to five years.

Markadi said that infrastructures on the border of Iran-Turkmenistan also are incomplete, there is no any silo, storage facilities, custom offices, human sources, etc. "Some $700 million is needed for completion of all the mentioned infrastructures," he added.

Edited by CN

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