BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 9. Iran's new government will pay special attention to connecting and developing the railway network with neighboring countries, especially Iraq, Türkiye, and Azerbaijan, the executive director of the Iranian Railway Company Jabar Ali Zakeri told reporters, Trend reports.
According to him, along with this, the development of land railroad ports in the country will remain at the center of attention.
Zakeri noted that the North-South international corridor is a priority and will contribute to developing the country's sea, rail, and road transit routes.
To note, the intergovernmental agreement signed on September 12, 2000, between Russia, Iran, and India laid the foundation for the North-South Transport Corridor. In general, several countries have ratified the said agreement. (Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Bulgaria, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Sultanate of Oman, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Türkiye, Ukraine). The purpose of creating the corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargoes from India to Russia, as well as to Northern and Western Europe (the delivery time on the current route is more than six weeks, and via “North-South” is expected to be three weeks).
To connect Azerbaijan Railways with the Iranian railroad network within the corridor, the Qazvin-Rasht railroad (175 km) was put into operation on March 6, 2019. The Rasht-Astara railroad is to be built on the territory of Iran.
The north-south corridor has three directions on the territory of Iran. The eastern direction is Turkmenistan and Central Asian countries; the middle direction is Russia and other countries across the Caspian Sea; and the western direction is Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Eastern European countries.
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