Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 18
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iranian and Russian companies will cooperate in manufacturing freight wagons, Babak Ahmadi, deputy head of the Iranian Railway Company, said.
At least 2200 freight wagons will be manufactured and handed over to the Iranian Railways by March 2017, Ahmadi said, Mehr news agency reported Sept. 18.
Three Iranian private companies and a Russian firm are implementing the project, Ahmadi said, adding that the wagons will be manufactured in Iran by Russian finance.
The Iranian official noted that 235 passenger wagons also will be added to Iranian rail fleet by March 2017.
Ahmadi further said that at least 5000 freight wagons will be put into service based on the company’s macro plan.
Last January Iran’s Deputy Minister of Transport of Iran Mohsen Pourseyyed Aghaei said that a private Russian wagon manufacturer is set to provide Iran with 500 freight wagons through leasing contracts.
In reference to the contract had said then that the most suitable way for Iranian companies to acquire wagons is lease-purchasing.
However, later the Islamic Republic’s General Inspection Office (GIO) revoked the contract.
“According to governmental regulation and orders by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic revolution, organizations and ministries are banned to import something we can produce domestically," GIO chief Nasser Seraj said while commenting the issue.
Iran's transport sector has remained underdeveloped due to mismanagement as well as international sanctions.
The imports were discussed at a time when Iran is itself a producer of wagons. A May 16 report said the major Iranian wagon maker Pars Wagon was operating at 25 percent of its full capacity because of scanty liquidity with railway companies and too few orders from customers.