The representatives of the transport administrations of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran have signed three documents on cooperation at the meeting on the North-South transport corridor project today.
The signing of the documents was the result of talks between the railway department heads of the three countries. One of the documents is trilateral, while the remaining two were signed between Azerbaijan and Iran and Iran and Russia.
The trilateral agreement envisages the acceleration of the South Transport Corridor project. The agreement between Iran and Russia promotes cooperation in railway construction and technical support, as well as the electrification of the Tehran-Bandar-Abbas Railway. In turn, the agreement between Iran and Azerbaijan envisages cooperation in the implementation of railway projects.
Department head at Iranian Railways Abdulali Sahib Mohammadisaid the sides will work together to implement the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara Railway project as a result of the meeting. He also noted that the North-South transport corridor is an important project.
According to him, cargo deliveries on the North-South route are currently carried out by sea. The process presently takes 45 days, but will drop to 25 days after the railway's construction. One of the advantages of this corridor is that it will accelerate the development of relations with European countries.
The scope of work in Azerbaijan envisages the construction of a 8.5-kilometer-long railway to the Astara station with systems for changing wheel pairs, a bridge, and border and customs infrastructure. It is also necessary to build a border railway bridge. This project will be implemented on a parity basis with Iran.