BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 29. Iran attaches great importance to the development of the North-South and East-West international transport corridors, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadegh said.
According to Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, she made the remarks on July 29 during a meeting in Tehran with members of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.
“Several issues are of great importance for Iran, including attracting investment in the country’s northern ports, strengthening freight transportation and transit diplomacy, expanding cooperation with regional countries, and developing the country’s eastern and western terminals,” she said.
Sadegh noted that during her visits to regional countries, including Kazakhstan, important agreements were reached on the development of transit corridors, adding that a clear increase in freight transportation through Iran is being observed.
The Iranian minister said that work is continuing on one of the country’s key railway projects, the Chabahar–Zahedan railway line. Rail laying operations are expected to be completed by the end of the summer, while the railway line is scheduled to be commissioned in September or October.
The Chabahar–Zahedan railway line in Iran has a total length of 786 kilometers, including railway stations. Construction work is currently underway on 634 kilometers of the line, while 152 kilometers have already been put into operation.
Earlier, Farzaneh Sadegh told Trend in an exclusive interview that the operational work on the Chabahar-Zahedan railway has accelerated over the past 1.5 years, and rail laying along the line will be completed within the next month.
“In the spring, the railway line is expected to become operational. This is a highly complex railway line, as numerous tunnels and bridges had to be constructed.
The importance of this railway lies in connecting international waters via Chabahar port to the city of Zahedan and to Iran’s national railway network. This means that countries located in eastern Iran, Central Asia, as well as in southern and western Iran, will gain access to international waters through the Chabahar-Zahedan railway, as they are connected to Iran’s railway network,” she said.
