Although US sanctions hampered Iran’s subway development plans, Tehran’s urban managers tapped into local potentials to accelerate its subway network expansion.
The sanctions disrupted relations with foreign suppliers of wagons and spare parts. However, Iranian officials mobilized the resources of domestic tech and knowledge-based companies to overcome the challenge.
Ali Emam, CEO of Tehran Metro Company, said early this week the only inactive station on Line 3, Aqdasiyeh in the northeastern flank, will come on stream within a month, Hamshahri Online reported.
“The construction of the station is complete and the station would become ready to start offering services after a few equipment are installed,” he added.
Tehran Metro’s Line 3, which extends over 38 km from Shahrak-e Qaem the northeast to Azadegan in the southwest, is a vital route as it crosses busy parts of the capital and helps alleviate traffic problems. Once fully operational, the line will have 26 stations.
According to Emam, Marzdaran on Line 6 is another station ready for launch in the coming month.
“While the construction of Marzdaran station is underway and a comparatively larger number of equipment are yet to be installed, the project is progressing fast enough to make the station ready for inauguration in less than a month,” he added.
Line 6 will be the longest rote in the subway network, stretching over 38 km with 27 stations upon completion. It connects Shahr-e Rey in southeast Tehran to the famed Sulaqan rural district in the northwest.
Once it comes on stream, Marzdaran would be the ninth station to become operational on the line.
Plan to Propel Line 10
Tehran subway is also expanding its reach to the western parts of the metropolis.
Metro officials are planning to start the construction of the newly designed Line 10, which is the largest urban development project in the past several years.
Khatam al-Anbiya, the construction arm of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, is the contractor of the project. The project has been split into five phases, the first of which starts from Khalij-e Fars Square in the western part of the city.
Emam said the reason for prioritizing the construction of the western sections of Line 10 is that citizens living in this area have poor access to public means of transportation.
The district spans over 5,500 hectares in the western part of the capital and includes vast residential, recreational and tourism facilities.
The CEO of Tehran Metro Company noted that as urban development accelerates in the area, traffic congestion will grow.
Officials believe that in addition to developing the urban transport fleet, the establishment of the new subway line will also ease road traffic and air pollution.
Emam said tunneling machines have been transferred to Khalij-e Fars Square, indicating that excavation work at the first station of the line is set to commence soon.
Line 10 will be 43 kilometers long and link up with lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 (the last three lines are still under construction) from east to the west of the city, crossing the northernmost areas.
With 35 stations, Line 10 is to start from Qanat Kosar in the east and link up with Vardavard Station on Line 5 that connects Sadeqiyeh to the west of Karaj, the provincial center of Alborz.
Stretching over 253 kilometers across the capital, Tehran Metro comprises 130 operating stations.
Line 7 Agenda
To speed up the development of traffic-free, green means of transportation, urban managers have also placed the completion of Line 7 on the agenda.
The 27-km-long line, which connects the northwest to southeastern parts of Tehran, will have 25 stations after completion. Currently, 11 stations are operational along the line.
According to Emam, the construction of 5 kilometers of the northwestern flank of Line 7, connecting two stations: Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch and North Jannatabad, and a subway terminal in the far north will start soon.
The subway terminal will help reduce the headway, ease parking problems and help renovate the wagons.
Line 7 was partially opened in June 2017 by Tehran's former mayor, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, during his 2017 presidential election campaign.
The line’s premature launch was strongly criticized by public transport experts and urban planners, because it disregarded safety rules and protocols.
Tehran Mayor Pirouz Hanachi now says all safety standards have been observed.
Fiscal Deficit
Officials are planning new subway lines, according to the head of Tehran City Council’s Transportation Commission, but the subway network of Tehran needs 2 quadrillion rials ($8.3 billion) for the construction of incomplete lines, purchase of train cars and standardization of equipment.
Mohammad Alikhani added that due to the negative effects of US sanctions reimposed in the summer of 2018, Iran’s rial is losing value against hard currencies, making it a tough task to expand and renew the ailing public transportation in Tehran.
Since the US reimposed sanctions against Iran in 2018, the rial has lost 70% of its value against the greenback over the past year.
On Wednesday, the US dollar was traded at 239,000 rials in Tehran while it hardly fetched 42,000 rials in March 2018.
“A train wagon cost 50 billion rials a couple of years ago, but now its price has reached 200 billion rials, which Tehran Municipality cannot afford,” he added.
Speaking to reporters, Mohsen Hashemi, the head of TCC, expressed disquiet over Tehran subway’s shortfalls.
“While the subway lines have been extended around the city by 80 kilometers in the past several years, not enough trains have been added to the metro network,” he added.
Hashemi noted that for each kilometer of the subway, there was 1.1 train wagons.
“Today, the figure has fallen by 30%, which means that for each kilometer of the operating subway line, there are 0.8 train cars,” he said.
How Tehran Metro’s managers will address the shortfalls under the current economic constraints remains to be seen.
