Tehran, Iran, June 19
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad, A. Shirazi - Trend:
Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari said the government plans to link mines to the country’s rail transport system.
“Today, a significant share of Iran’s freight goes to industrial and commercial goods,” Shariatmadari told the Trend news agency on the sidelines of the 6th International Exhibition of Rail Transportation and Related Industries & Equipment underway in Tehran.
Stressing that the government plans to increase the share of rail in cargo transportation in Iran, he added that the weight of cargo transportation via rail in the country should increase and reach 100 million tons by 2025.
The senior Iranian official said an agreement has been signed between the country’s ministries of roads and mines whereby the road ministry has been tasked with providing $6.5 million finance to help develop rail infrastructures and increase the country’s total share of rail in cargo transportation.
The mining sector also will finance construction of infrastructure for linking the mines to railroads, under the agreement, the minister said.
To that end, the Iranian steel industry should continue to push ahead with its ambitious plan to become the world’s sixth largest steelmaker as per its 2025 Development Plan, Shariatmadari concluded.
Currently, 12 percent of cargo transportation in Iran are carried out via rail. The share stood at 8.5 percent the year Rouhani took office (2013).
Major railroad projects in need of financing include Qazvin-Rasht (388 km), Tehran-Isfahan high-speed line (410 km), Mianeh-Tabriz (200 km), Tehran-Hamedan-Sanandaj (430 km), Shiraz-Bushehr (250 km), Gorgan-Bojnourd-Mashhad (570 km), Mianeh-Ardabil (175 km), the so-called Gharb (West) Rail project as well as electrification of Garmsar-Incheh Borun and Tehran-Mashhad lines.