Baku, Azerbaijan, May. 12
By Emil Ilgar - Trend:
Iran and Turkmenistan will start transiting fuel by railway in two weeks, CEO of Iranian Railways, Mohsen Pour Seyed Aghaei said on May 12.
Pour Seyed Aghaei who serves as Iran's deputy minister of roads and urban development also said that Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have already signed agreement on common railroad transit duty, the official website of the Ministry of Roads And Urban Development reported.
The participant countries inaugurated the railway in December 2014, which links Kazakhstan to Persian Gulf through Turkmenistan and Iran.
The route links Uzen in Kazakhstan to Etrek-Sarakhs checkpoint at the Turkmenistan-Iran border, then connects to Iran's national rail network, making its way to the Persian Gulf ports.
For now Iran and Turkmenistan have connected their normal gauge railroads, but they plan to link their broad gauge railways in the future, Pour Seyed Aghaei added.
In the long term the transportation will increase to 10-12 million metric tons.
He also added that Islamic Republic of Iran Railways' debts to Turkmenistan stands at 4 million franc (about $4.12 million).