Azerbaijan, Baku, May.6/ Trend R.Zamanov
The 88 kilometre Inceburun-Gorgan rail project connecting the north western Iranian city of Gorgan with Incheboroon in Turkmenistan will soon come on stream, Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Ali Nikzad said on Sunday.
The two countries presidents will attend the inauguration ceremony, the IRNA News Agency quoted Nikzad as saying.
Its completion will create a rail corridor connecting the Persian Gulf to Central Asia. Once the project comes on stream, Iran will have access to Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and China.
The project's implementation will open access for European and Asian countries to Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
A similar opportunity will appear for the transit of goods from countries in south and south-east Asia, the shores of the Indian Ocean to the countries of Northern and Eastern Europe through Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Nikzad also said that construction operations of some other railroads are underway to connect the country's railroad to that of neighbouring countries.
Qazvin-Rasht-Astara and Mianeh-Ardabil-Parsabad railways will connect Iran to Azerbaijan, while the Kemanshah-Khosravi and Shalamcheh-Basra railways will connect Iran to Iraq, he explained.
Construction of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway is projected to come on stream by March of 2014.
The Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway is a part of the North-South transport corridor implemented by Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran.
During the preliminary years the volume of freight transportation via the railway is projected to be six million tons a year, with a subsequent increase in the volume of freight to 20 million tons per year.