Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
Azerbaijan and Iran agreed to jointly seek funds for construction of the Rasht-Astara railway, meant to be 153 km long, Javid Gurbanov, head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, told reporters Oct. 13.
"There is so far no project for this railway," he said. "Iranian side planned its construction, and we agreed to jointly seek funds for these purposes."
Gurbanov said it is first of all planned to link the railways of Azerbaijan and Iran as part of the 'North-South' project.
He added that it is planned, at the first phase, to construct the Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railway line and jointly construct a border bridge.
"The length of the Iranian section of the Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railway line will be two kilometers long, and in line with contract, the Iranian side will engage in its construction," he added.
Gurbanov also said the length of the railway's Azerbaijani section is meant to exceed eight kilometers, and Azerbaijan will deal with its construction.
"It is also planned to build a railway bridge of a length of 100 meters," Gurbanov said.
"We have already determined the site for constructing the bridge and made a special markup," said Gurbanov.
He noted that this project can bring great revenues to Azerbaijan, therefore, its implementation is one of the main priorities.
"The North-South international transport corridor has undeservedly remained without proper attention for a long time," he said.
"This corridor will allow to link Iran, Afghanistan and Persian Gulf countries with Europe through Azerbaijan and significantly increase our country's revenues," said Gurbanov. "Therefore, it is very important to develop this route."
The North-South railway will link North Europe with South-East Asia. It will serve as a link to connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
The railway's capacity will be 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million tons of cargo per year, according to the preliminary estimations. Moreover, 22 tunnels and 15 bridges will be constructed along the railway.
At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 5 million tons and further, over 10 million tons of cargo per year via the North-South corridor.
Edited by SI
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov