Tehran, Iran, Nov. 13
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
Iranian and German officials held a meeting November 13 in Tehran to discuss cooperation opportunities in the field of rail transportation.
The German delegation was led by Tillmann Rudolf Braun, the Middle East deputy of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and the Iranian side was headed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI) Director Said Mohammadzadeh, Trend correspondent reported from the event.
Speaking during the meeting, Mohammadzadeh said so far $7 billion finance has been signed for rail infrastructure in Iran and some of it is being implemented as projects, noting that over the past four years $1.5 billion has been invested in the country’s rail industry annually.
He noted that Iran is the second biggest economy in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) with a 2016 GDP of $412 billion and a population of over 80 million.
Mohammadzadeh noted that by 2022, Iran plans to increase the share of rail in cargo transportation from 12 to 30 percent and in passenger transportation from 8 to 20 percent.
Increasing the penetration of electric railways and achieving a 200 kmph speed, making the country’s rail industry tourist-friendly, renovating railways, stations and wagons, increasing private sector cooperation in rail development, and developing the rail system according to market demands are among the most prominent goals in RAI’s developmental projects, the official said.