Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has announced that the country in collaboration with Azerbaijan will launch construction of the Rasht-Astara railway in northern Iran in the near future.

He made the remarks on March 29 upon arrival in the Rasht airport, as part of his provincial visit.

Describing the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway as "significant" issue, President Rouhani added that he had discussed the issue of International North-South Transportation Corridor with the Russian officials during his recent visit to Moscow, IRNA news agency reported.

The president added that the construction of the Qazvin-Rasht railway is also going through final phase and it is expected to be inaugurated over the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20-21).

Explaining that Iran’s southern port-city of Bandarabbas will be connected to Moscow once the railway project is completed, he said that the corridor will facilitate carrying cargos from “the Indian Subcontinent”.

To complete the railway links of the transportation corridor, Iran had earlier agreed to construct inland railway segments in northern parts of the country in order to extend its railway network to the border area with the neighboring Azerbaijan through the two cities of Astara on both sides.

The initial plan included Qazvin-Rasht and Rasht-Astara railway segments.

In the meantime, Azerbaijan has launched a construction project to extend its railway into Iran’s territory which is going through the final tests and will be implemented soon.

Under the latest agreements between Iranian and Azerbaijani sides, the Islamic Republic has been obliged to purchase the lands where Rasht-Astara railway segment will run, while Azerbaijan will finance the construction of the $500-million railway.

The main goal of strategic cooperation between the railways of Iran and Azerbaijan is activating the International North-South Transportation Corridor which will eventually link Russia and Azerbaijan to High-Seas through the Islamic Republic.

The Iran-Azerbaijan-Russia corridor promises to cut down over 40 percent of logistics cost and halve travel time.

The North-South Corridor will connect the railways of Azerbaijan and Iran, which in turn will provide a wider transport connection between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Due to its location on the corridor and role as a transit country, Azerbaijan stands to gain substantially from the North-South project. Firstly, it will bring millions in foreign currency. Secondly, it will give an essential boost to the Azerbaijani non-oil sector. Thirdly, it should significantly improve the transport infrastructure of the region. And most importantly, it will open up access to the Arab Gulf countries for Azerbaijan in the future.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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