Tehran,Baku ink deal on Tehran-Nakhichevan railroad
Iran and Azerbaijan have signed an agreement to launch a railroad transit system from Tehran to Nakhichivan, Iran Railroads International Affairs Director Abbas Nazari said.
He said the agreement was signed on the sidelines of the quadrilateral Baku summit, IRIB news agency reported.
The official further said experts from both sides are to meet in a month to discuss trains’ timetable as well as fairs.
Nazari noted that the infrastructure for the railroad exist, explaining that passenger trains will use the Tehran-Tabriz-Jolfa-Nakhichevan route.
The quadrilateral meeting was held recently between Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine to make important decisions in the field of transportation.
The general theme of the summit was to create a composite transit route from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea and Europe. It envisioned starting point of Mumbai in India, unified Iran, Azerbaijan, and Georgia base railroad tariffs, and created consensus among members to provide equipment, infrastructure maintenance service, etc.
If the North-South corridor, which links North Europe with South-West Asia, operates at full capacity, this will allow some European, Central Asian, Caucasus countries, as well as several regions of Russia to get access to the Persian Gulf and India.
The railway’s capacity will stand at 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million metric tons of cargo per year, according to the preliminary estimations. As many as 22 tunnels and 15 bridges will be built throughout the railway. The volume of cargo transportation through the corridor will amount to 6 million metric tons at the initial stage and will reach 15-20 million metric tons in the future.
The North-South railway project is expected to bring great profits to Azerbaijan and Iran. The railway lines of the two countries will be linked before late 2016. The construction of Astara-Astara and Rasht-Astara part within the project falls within Iran and Azerbaijan’s responsibility and the two countries are making effort to build the sections.
Earlier, Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Javid Gurbanov said energy carriers such as oil, gas, and mazut are among the goods that the railway would suitable transfer.
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