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Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran to discuss North-South railway project

Business Materials 9 October 2009 13:54 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 9 / Trend E.Ismayilov /

Azerbaijani, Iranian and Russian working groups will meet in Tehran in early November under the auspices of the North-South project, Azerbaijani State Railway Office Head Nadir Azmammadov said on Oct.9.

"At present, negotiations are underway. There are still no exact results and dates. But, the meeting of working groups is scheduled for Nov.1-4," Azmammadov said.

Azmammadov said it is too early to talk about the agenda, because the question of the meeting has not been fully agreed upon.

The North-South transport corridor envisages unified railway transportation from Europe to India and Southeast Asia via Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran. According to preliminary estimates, the project will cost over $400 million and much work should be done in Iran, which has no rail link to the border with Azerbaijan. Certain work worth about $35-40 million should be conducted in Azerbaijan.
 

The work to be conducted in Azerbaijan envisages constructing about 8.5 kilometers railway station to the Astara station (Azerbaijan), having a wheel pair change system, border and customs infrastructure. It is also necessary to build a border railway bridge. However, this project will be implemented on a parity basis with Iran.

It is forecasted goods transportation via this corridor will be 5 million tons per year in the first stage and further it is planned to increase to 10-15 million.

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