TEHRAN, Iran, October 12. Iran has given Russia two months' deadline to cooperate in the construction of the Rasht- Astara railway project, said the Minister of Road and Urban Development Rostam Qassemi, Trend reports citing ILNA.
Iran and Russia have agreed to increase transit and cooperation in the construction of the Rasht- Astara Railway project, he said adding that Iran’s cargo transit via road and railway has increased 180 and 30 percent during the first half of the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2022).
The Minister has underlined his meeting with the Russian President, Deputy Prime Minister, and minister of transportation and serious negotiations for the construction of the Rasht- Astara Railway project.
“We have announced in the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak that if Russia seeks to cooperate in the construction of the Rasht- Astara Railway project it should be present in the projects by the next two months,” he noted.
Rasht-Caspian Railway is a multimodal (rail and sea) transit route in Iran that would be part of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). The rail route aims to connect Bandar Abbas Port in the south to Bandar Anzali in the north of Iran.
The INSTC will link countries of Northern Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia through Iran to the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian countries.