Azerbaijan, Iran continue building North-South railway
Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept.30 / Trend, E.Ismayilov /
Iran, as part of the North-South railway that aims to unify the railway systems of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran, is set to build the Qazvin-Rasht railway section on its own, the head of the Iranian Presidential Apparatus' department for control over economic issues and Assistant to Iranian Vice-President Aliaga Mohammadi said today.
The$400-million North-South transport corridor envisages creation of a single railway from Europe through Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran to India and South-East Asia. Most of the work will be done in Iran, which has no rail link to the border with Azerbaijan. Certain work worth $35-40 million is planned to be conducted in Azerbaijan.
According to Mohammadi, as a result of meetings with the Azerbaijan Transport Minister and Finance Minister it was decided to resume trilateral talks about the construction of the rest of the railway to the border with Azerbaijan. This work includes construction of a 165km section of railway from Rasht to Astara in Iran. The parties have decided to hold meetings in order to encourage Russia's active participation in the project.
The scope of work in Azerbaijan envisages the construction of a 8.5km-long railway to the Astara station with systems of changing of wheel pairs, a bridge and border and customs infrastructure. This project will be implemented on a parity basis with Iran.
The value of goods to the transported through the corridor during its first phase has been forecast at $5 million a year, with a further increase to $10-15 million a year.
