Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 7
By Temkin Jafarov, Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Azerbaijani-Iranian working group on analysis of the current situation and the coordination of positions regarding the North-South railway project will consider the option of a new route of cargo transportation within the framework of the project, Director General of the Department of International Relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (IRIR) Abbas Nazari told Trend Oct.6.
He said that discussion of the new cargo transportation route will become one of the important tasks of the working group.
"Currently, a railway from the Persian Gulf to the port of Amirabad on the Caspian Sea operates in Iran," said Nazari. "From there, trains will be transported on the ferry to the port of Baku, and after that, they will be sent to Russia and Georgia via the railway again."
He went on to add that this route was agreed upon at the level of heads of railways of Iran and Azerbaijan.
"The working group should discuss and analyze technical issues in the implementation of such a route," said the head of the department. "Over 4,000 trucks run every year between Azerbaijan and Iran, and the opening of this corridor will transform Azerbaijan and Iran to important transit countries for Russia, Georgia, the Gulf states and India."
North-South railway will connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia. It will serve as a bridge to connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
This project envisages creating a border railway bridge between Iranian and Azerbaijani Astara, as well as laying 8-kilometer-long branch on Azerbaijan's territory.
The railway's capacity will stand at 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million metric tons of cargo per year, according to the preliminary estimations. As many as 22 tunnels and 15 bridges will be built throughout the railway.
The volume of cargo transportation through the corridor will amount to 6 million metric tons at the initial stage and will reach 15-20 million metric tons in the future.
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