BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 4. Iran is planning to sign a joint memorandum with India in the field of railway freight transportation, said Jabbar Ali Zakeri, the Deputy Minister for Roads and Urban Development of Iran, President of the Iranian Railways (RAI), at a meeting in Tehran with India's Ambassador to Iran, Rudra Gaurav Shresth, Trend reports.
Zakeri highlighted the importance of the railway that starts from the Chabahar Port in Iran, which will simplify cargo transportation to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
He further mentioned that India could use the North-South International Corridor as a secure route to carry cargo to countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
The Deputy Minister also emphasized that the improvement of the Chabahar railway would be a key focus in the current year. The Indian side can fully utilize the potential of this railway, he noted.
He added that according to the planned programs, increasing cargo transportation from Mumbai to the CIS countries and Afghanistan would be possible.
During the meeting, it was decided that a group of Indian experts would visit Iran's Chabahar, Bandar Abbas, and the Shamtigh border crossing point on the Iran-Afghanistan border for a closer inspection.
To note, construction of the 720-kilometer Chabahar-Zahedan railway began in 2010. In 2014, the construction of this railway was accelerated by changing the contractor. So far, 17 trillion rials (about $404 million) have been spent on the construction of this railway, and it is estimated that 40 trillion rials (about $952 million) will be required to complete the project.
Once operational, this railway is expected to handle 100 million tons of cargo annually. In addition, about 300 million euros have been allocated by the National Development Fund of Iran for the construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway.
The foundation of the ‘International North-South Transport Corridor’ was laid on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000. In total, 13 countries have ratified the agreement, including Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Russia, Türkiye, etc.
The purpose of creating a corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargo from India to Russia, as well as to Northern and Western Europe. Delivery time on the current route is more than 6 weeks; it is expected to be reduced to 3 weeks via the International North-South Transport Corridor.
In order to connect Azerbaijan Railways with the Iranian railroad network within the corridor, the Qazvin-Rasht railroad (175 km) was put into operation on March 6, 2019. The Rasht-Astara railroad is to be built on the territory of Iran.
The north-south corridor has 3 directions in the territory of Iran. Eastern direction: Turkmenistan and Central Asian countries; Middle direction: other countries across the Caspian Sea; Western direction: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Eastern European countries.