TEHRAN, Iran, Nov. 30
Trend:
Referring to the amount of the total rail transit in the current Iranian year (started on March 20) CEO of the Iran Railway Company, Saeed Rasouli says that "In the period of the first 8 months of the current year(started on March 20), despite the closure of railway borders of Incheh-Burun, Sarakhs, and Mirjavah due to Coronavirus outbreak, more than 410,000 tons of goods were transited by the country's rail routes," Trend reports citing ILNA.
"The share of railways inland transit has increased from 10 percent in 2019 to 30 percent in the first six months of the current Iranian year (started on March 20), which means 220 percent growth compared to the same period last Iranian year (started on March 21, 2018, ended on March 20, 2020)."
Emphasizing the increase in transit traffic via Iran to Afghanistan with the opening of the Khaf-Herat railway, he said that Iran connects Afghanistan to the waters through the railway.
"Part of the transit goods via Iran is Afghanistan`s mineral products," he said. “An important part of the potential of the Khaf-Herat railway is making a transit route between Turkey and the CIS countries to Afghanistan."
Regarding the projected transit load via this route, he said that "In total, there is a potential of 1.7 million tons of transit to Afghanistan through Khaf-Herat Railway, of which about 500,000 tons belong to Turkey and 1.2 million tons to/from the destination and origin of CIS countries."
Rasouli stated that various goods are currently being exported and imported between Iran and Afghanistan, and with the activation of this railway, a large part of these cargoes can be transited through this new route.