Tehran, Iran, April 26
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
A railway that connects Iran to Azerbaijan by passing from Nakhchivan to Tehran and Mashhad will become operational this year, Iran's Deputy Minister of Transport Mohsen Pour Seyyed Aghaei said.
"We are defining a protocol for exchanging passengers.... We are connected to the Nakhchivan railway from Jolfa right now," he told ILNA news agency April 26.
"Considering rail connections between Iran and Nakhchivan and the lines that lead to Turkey and Georgia, the line is expected to see a lot of traffic in a few months," the official said.
"In two to three years we will witness the transit of one million tons of goods by this line. By stretching side lines for industrial units in Aras free zone, parts of the lands of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways will come under the authority of the free zone administration so that they could be available for foreign investment," Aghaei commented.
Last week Iran and Azerbaijan together brick-laid a rail bridge that connects the two neighbor countries.
The railroad is part of the North-South corridor that connects Europe to India.