BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The length of Iran's railways is expected to reach 28,000 kilometers over the next five years, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami said, Trend reports citing the ministry.
He made the remark at an event dedicated the signing of a contract between the Railways of Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian Tidewater Middle East Company.
The minister said that at present, Iran has 14,000-kilometer length railways that are in operation, while additional 14,000 kilometers of railways are being constructed.
The minister noted that about 560 million tons of products were transported by roads and 47 million tons by railways in Iran in the last Iranian year (from March 21, 2019 to March 20, 2020).
According to him, 172 million tons of products were loaded and unloaded in Iranian ports in the last Iranian year.
The volume of loaded and unloaded products increased by 16 percent compared to the preceding Iranian year (from March 21, 2018 to March 21, 2019) (147 million tons)," he said.
Eslami emphasized that the connection of Iranian ports to the railways is necessary to increase cargo transportation.
“According to the contract that signed today, the products will be loaded directly from ships to wagons and transported by railway to various provinces of Iran,” he said.
Today, the Railways of Islamic Republic of Iran signed a contract with the Tidewater Middle East Company for the purchase of railway vehicles and the construction of a terminal for the transportation of essential products in the Imam Khomeini and Shahid Rajaee ports. The contract is worth 16 trillion rials (about $380 million). It is planned to transport the necessary products from these ports to the apron logistics center. Thus, in the ports, the products will be loaded directly from the ship to the freight wagons and the products will be transported to the logistics center.