Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 4
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
In order to reduce fuel consumption and traffic accidents, cargo should be mainly transported by rail in Iran, Managing Director of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI) Saeed Mohammadzadeh said.
He made the remarks at a conference on Dec. 4, Fars News Agency reported.
Iranian railways have the capacity of transporting 130 billion ton-kilometers of cargo, he said.
“Over the last 10 years, 2,000 kilometers of railways have been commissioned,” he noted. “It is envisaged to transport a total of 12 million tons of cargo via the railways.”
He added that presently, the average cost of freight transport by road is 3,400 rials (about 8 cents) per kilometer, while the average cost of freight transport by rail is 800 rials (about 1 cent).”
“Last Iranian year (started March 21, 2017), 133 million tons of cargo were exported from Iran and 40 million tons of cargo were imported to the country," he said.
Cargo was mainly exported to China, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan, Mohammadzadeh noted.
Cargo was mainly imported from Turkey, China, Iraq and Russia, he added.
"The railways accounted for only 15 million tons of these volumes," Mohammadzadeh noted.