Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 8
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Iran has launched a 14 kilometer-long railway, connecting two towns of Sangan and Khaf in north-eastern province of Khorasan Razavi.
Ali Nourzad, the head of Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company, said that the railway eventually will be extended to Afghanistan to help increasing trade ties, Fars news agency reported.
According to the report, the construction of the Sangan-Khaf railway cost $7.3 million (230 billion rials converted to US dollar according to official rate on August 8).
In the meantime, the newly constructed railway will facilitate carrying iron ore from mines in Sangan to steel factories located in other parts of the country.
Last year, Iran drew up a plan for $25 billion of investment to modernize and expand its rail network as it seeks to turn into a regional transportation hub by establishing a railway corridor linking the Persian Gulf to the Central Asia and beyond.
Iran’s plans include increasing the country’s track lengths to 25,000 kilometers by 2025 from under 15,000 kilometers now.
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