BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 4. Iran will build and put into operation the Rasht-Astara railway line located on the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), in spite of everything, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Ghasemi said, Trend reports citing the ministry.
Rostami stressed that the absence of the 162 km long railway line creates many difficulties in the country's railway transit.
“Currently, a container ship carrying cargo within the International North-South Transport Corridor is moving from India to Iran's Shahid Rajaee Port, where the cargo of the ship is transshipped to the trains and then transported via the railway line to Iran's Rasht city. Then, cargo is loaded into trucks and transported by trucks from the city of Rasht to Astara city. Cargo is then re-loaded into trains and transported through Azerbaijani railways to Finland,” the minister added.
Rostami noted that cargo on this route is transported within 17-18 days. However, if these goods are transported through the Red Sea, it will take at least 45-60 days.
“Countries located in the south of Iran appealed to Iran to create new routes in the direction of Russia through the country. Russia and Iran have recently signed an agreement to transport 10 million tons of cargo. Other countries are also interested in transit their products through Iran,” he said.
The foundation of the ‘International North-South Transport Corridor’ was laid on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000.
In total, 13 countries have ratified the agreement, including Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Russia, Turkey, etc.
The purpose of creating a corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargo from India to Russia, as well as to North and West Europe. Delivery time on the current route is more than 6 weeks, it is expected to be reduced to 3 weeks via North-South Transport Corridor.
The 175 km long Qazvin-Rasht railway was officially put into operation on March 6, 2019, to connect Azerbaijani railways with the Iranian railway network within the corridor. In addition, the 167 km long Rasht-Astara railway line must be built in Iran.
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