Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend Trend S.Aliyev / The Head of the State Railway Department of Azerbaijan (SRDA), Arif Askerov , stated that a meeting of the heads of railway departments of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran will take place on the 19th of June in Moscow, to discuss the opening of the North-South railway corridor.
According to him, the meeting is planned to cover the beginning of the construction of the Iranian railway stretch Resht-Astara up to the border of Azerbaijan.
The 'North-South' transport corridor project will establish a railway service linking Europe-Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran-India and South-East Asia. The implementation of the project requires over $400mln. Most of the work is to be carried out in Iran, as there is no railway service to the Azerbaijani border. The construction work in Azerbaijan requires $20mln.
Azerbaijani transport experts consider there to be no need in hastening the implementation of the project. The work to be carried out in Azerbaijani territory is of a medium scale. A 8.5km road to Astara station ( Azerbaijan ), a station with wheel-pair change systems and border and customs infrastructure has to be constructed. In addition a border railway bridge must be built as well. The implementation of the project will be carried out on a par with Iran.