BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 17. Iran has granted a 50 percent discount for cargo transportation by rail from the Iranian port of Amirabad to the port of Bandar Abbas within the framework of the International North-South Corridor, Iran's Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Director General of Railways Administration Jabbar Ali Zakeri said at a meeting with Governor of Mazandaran province Yousef Nouri, Trend reports.
He claims that the purpose of this discount is to entice businessmen to use the specified railroad.
Meanwhile, the Iranian official did not provide further information about the details of the discount.
Zakeri added that, in addition to freight transportation through railroads, the focus is on developing passenger transportation by attracting private sector investments.
The deputy minister noted that Iran's railroad administration is ready to cover 50 percent of the funds of any railroad project in Mazandaran province.
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 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 creating the corridor is to reduce the time of delivery of goods coming 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 three weeks via “North-South”).
On March 6, 2019, the Qazvin-Rasht railroad (175 km) went into operation, connecting Azerbaijan's railroads with Iran's railway network within the corridor. Iranian territory will host the construction of the Rasht-Astara railroad.
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.