BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. In the Iranian province of Ardabil, in the northwest of the country, preparations are underway to commission the 175-kilometer Ardabil–Miyaneh railway section, which will connect the Parsabad district in Ardabil Province with the Miyaneh district in East Azerbaijan, deputy executive director of the Iranian Company for Construction and Development of Transport Infrastructure, Abbas Khatibi, told local media, Trend reports.
According to him, although construction of the railway section has been completed, the Ardabil–Miyaneh line has not yet been put into operation for certain reasons.
Khatibi noted that in recent weeks, the Iranian Railway Company held a meeting to determine train velocities, and the line will soon be put into operation. From a technical standpoint, all necessary work has already been completed.
In addition, it is noted that the commissioning of this railway line will not only connect Ardabil Province to Iran’s national railway network but also establish a rail link with the Imishli region of Azerbaijan, opening a new transit corridor toward the South Caucasus, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the countries of Eastern Europe. Currently, the Ardabil–Miyaneh line is ready for operation, but construction of the 270-kilometer Ardabil–Parsabad section remains to be completed.
Meanwhile, last year, Ardabil Governor Masoud Emami Yeganeh said in an interview with Trend that feasibility studies for the construction of the Ardabil–Parsabad railway line had been completed. The Iranian Planning and Budget Organization is currently working on issuing a technical license for the construction of this line.
On the Ardabil–Miyaneh railway line, passenger trains are expected to travel at 160 km/h and freight trains at 120 km/h. It is estimated that this line will transport 600,000 passengers and 2.5 million tons of freight annually, and by the 20th year of its operation, 1.5 million passengers and 4 million tons of freight.
