Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 27
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran needs $27 billion to expand rail transport infrastructures by 2021.
Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi said $27 billion is needed to transfer 20 percent of road passenger and cargo transportation to the rail sector, Iran's IRIB reported on Dec. 27.
The country's rail passenger fleet is worn out, he said, adding that 2,400 old carriages should be replaced with new ones to renovate the fleet.
This requires around 100 trillion rials (about $3 billion), he noted. The number of freight wagons should be increased to 50,000, he said.
The rail transportation network of Iran transported over 25 million passengers during the last fiscal year (ended on March 21), Mohammad Reza Nosrat Nezami, deputy head of Iran Railways said on Dec. 11.
Nezami said that about 22 billion kilometer-tons of goods also were transported through railways in the country during the period.
Kilometer-ton (kmt) unit is the transportation of one ton of goods over one kilometer.
Iran currently has over 8,000 kilometers of standard railways.
The Islamic Republic plans to increase passenger transfer capacity of the railway network to 40 million people in the next two years.