BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 8. Iran has commissioned a 387-km-long railroad and a 236-km-long highway within 3 years (meaning the current government of Iran and the current government have been in power since August 2021), executive director of Iran's Transportation Infrastructure Construction and Development Company, Khairullah Khademi said at a press conference held in Tehran on July 8, Trend reports.
According to him, besides, a highway with a length of 2,015 kilometers has been put into operation.
Khademi noted that a 3,081-kilometer-long railway line is currently under construction in the country. One of these railroads is the Rasht-Astara railroad under the North-South International Corridor. It is planned to use oil barter to finance this railroad. Negotiations are underway for a contract with Russia for the construction of the railroad.
The deputy minister added that 700–1000 km of roads are commissioned in the country every year. This figure was 730 km last year (from March 21, 2023, through March 19, 2024). During the current year (from March 20, 2024, through March 20, 2025), 820 km of roads are scheduled to be commissioned in the country.
To note, the agreement was signed between Russia and Iran on May 17, 2023, for the construction of the Rasht-Astara railroad line in Gilan province, located in northern Iran. Nine stations will be built on the 163-kilometer-long Rasht-Astara railway line. With the completion of this railroad, the North-South international corridor will be improved, and Iran's railroad network will be connected to the Caucasus countries, Russia, and Northern European countries. Under the agreement, the Russian side is to spend 1.6 billion euros on the construction of this railroad. This railroad is planned to be built and completed within 48 months.
The construction of the Rasht-Astara railway line will be carried out by the Russian company Caspian Services and the Iranian company Construction and Development of Transport Infrastructure.
The intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000, 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, Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Sultanate of Oman, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Türkiye, Ukraine). The purpose of the corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargo traveling from India to Russia, as well as to Northern and Western Europe (the delivery time on the current route is more than 6 weeks, it is expected to be 3 weeks via "North-South").
The Qazvin-Rasht railroad (175 km) was put into operation on March 6, 2019, to connect Azerbaijan's railroads with Iran's railway network within the corridor. The Rasht-Astara railroad is to be built on Iranian territory.
The North-South Corridor has three directions within 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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