Providing decent public transportation services for Tehran’s satellite cities has long been a concern of urban managers, as the population is steadily growing in those areas.
Therefore, Tehran Municipality has been working with domestic construction companies on the completion of subway access to Pardis in the northeast and Parand in the southwest of the capital.
Mohammad Reza Tavakkoli, an official with New Towns Development Company, told Tasnim News Agency that the extension of Tehran subway to Pardis will commence in a couple of months.
“The project is a major one, as a large part of the railroad goes through a tunnel. The railroad connection will significantly reduce the time and cost of commuting for the residents of Pardis, in addition to curbing traffic congestion and air pollution in the capital,” Tavakkoli added.
In early March, an agreement worth 40 trillion rials ($250 million) was signed by NTDC and Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters for implementing the project.
Studies for the Tehran-Pardis metro construction started in July 2019 and officials say the project will take five years to complete.
Abdolazim Rezaei, the governor of Pardis, earlier told reporters that Tehran-Pardis subway will be connected to Tehran Metro’s Line 2 at Farhangsara Station and will stretch 24.7 kilometers to the east.
“The line will have three stations, namely Tehran East Terminal, Tehran-Pardis road toll and Pardis Technology Park in the far east of the capital,” he added.
Pardis is witnessing a rapidly growing residential construction and a considerable number of people are expected to converge on Pardis, which calls for expanding urban facilities, such as public transportation services.
Located in the southwestern flank of Tehran Province, Parand is the other satellite city that will be connected to Tehran’s subway network soon.
Officials say the construction of stations and railroad will kick off in the current Iranian year (started March 20).
In 2016, in a bid to provide subway access to the southwestern areas of the province, a junction was established from Shahed Station on Line 1 of Tehran Metro, linking Shahr-e Aftab International Exhibition Center with Imam Khomeini International Airport. As planned, the junction is to be extended to Parand.
Line 1 of Tehran Metro became operational in 2001 and links Tajrish in north Tehran to Kahrizak in the south, stretching over 40 kilometers with 31 stations.
Mohsen Vatankhah, the head of Parand New Town Development Organization, says the junction will be expanded to Parand, and only then the extended part will realize its potential.
“Currently the junction to IKIA is inefficient, because the headway of trains starting from Shahed to the airport station reaches 120 minutes, which is so long that people prefer to take a taxi or use private vehicles not to miss their flights,” he said.
Parand Metro project is to be jointly conducted by TM and PNTDO, the officials of which believe that the current year’s budget allocated for the expansion of subway lines is not sufficient.
Experts believe they should encourage more private investments to push the work forward.
The extension of Tehran’s subway network to the capital's surrounding cities like Malard, Varamin, Parand and Pardis was planned years ago. However, their implementation will take time, perhaps years, because of financial constraints.
Commuters hope things will improve with the allocation of funds and strict oversight on spending.
Tehran Subway in Future
Currently, Tehran’s subway network stretches over 220 kilometers and comprises seven lines (1 to 7) with nearly 120 stations. Line 6 and 7 are still under construction.
In an ambitious initiative to provide Tehran’s residents with extensive and decent transportation services, four new lines were designed for expanding the city’s subway network last summer.
TM earlier announced that in collaboration with a French engineering and consulting group and the Iranian engineering group Gueno, four additional lines have been mapped for Tehran Subway.
While the operating lines move through diagonal paths, connecting north to south and west to east of the city through the central parts, the new lines (8 to 11) have been designed to cover new areas, according to TM.
The C-shape Line 8 is to stretch over 37 kilometers starting from the southeast, turning around the city center as a curve and turning back to the northeast of the city with a total of 35 stations.
When constructed, Line 9 will be 46 km long with 39 stations. The line will cover a larger area starting from the west at Line 5's Chitgar Station. It will then travel up north and go toward the east to reach Imam Ali Highway. The line will continue southward and end at Dolatabad Station on Line 6.
Line 10, the third line, will be the uppermost path, starting from Vardavard Station on Tehran-Karaj Line 5. It will travel 41 kilometers across the northern part of the city with 34 stations, reaching northeast to Qanat-e Kosar.
Finally, Line 11, which is comparatively shorter, will stretch over 26 kilometers, starting from Chitgar Station on Line 5 and linking the west to the southeastern flank of Tehran with 17 stations.
All the four new lines will have numerous intersections with the operating lines.
According to the new map, two express lines have also been proposed as a peripheral transport facility. One of the lines is to connect Sadeqiyeh Station on Line 5 to the capital's southern neighborhood Varamin.
The other express line is set to link Pardis in the northeast to Parand in the southwest of Tehran Province.
Until the economy emerges from the shadows of coronavirus and sanctions, all these plans are expected to remain on paper.
