The first phase of Tehran Metro’s Line 10, which runs across the western part of the capital city, needs 97 trillion rials ($429.2 million), the CEO of Tehran Metro Company said.
During a ceremony to launch the phase on Wednesday, Ali Emam estimated that the construction of infrastructure will cost 77 trillion rials ($340.7 million) and the equipment will require 20 trillion rials ($88.5 million), IRNA reported.
“The project has been split into five phases. The first phase would be 43 kilometers long, starting at Khalij-e Fars Square and ending at Ketab Square in the city's western outskirts”, he said.
“Khatam al-Anbiya, the construction arm of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Tehran Municipality and Tehran Metro Company are the contractors of the initial phase.”
According to the official, the engineering firms Behro and Farbar are also executive consultants.
The newly designed Line 10 is the largest urban development project launched in the past several years.
Emam said the reason for prioritizing the construction of the line’s western segments 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 to commence excavation work at the first station of the line.
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 the east of the city to the west, 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 Plans
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.
Tehran Metro’s Report Sheet
Tehran Metro Company also presented a review of its operations in the past four years.
According to the firm, six additional stations will be opened until September, bringing the total number of stations opened to 32 since 2016. This equates to an average of eight stations per year.
Aside from these projects, Tehran Metro has completed 40 kilometers of subway tunnels, built 12 new station entrances and five power stations, installed 62 elevators, 280 escalators and 78 ventilation systems, and added 133 subway cars to the network.
The firm also states that three sources have contributed 67 trillion rials ($296.4 million) to Tehran Metro construction since November 2017.
The first is the government's budget allocation, which totals 2.46 trillion rials ($10.88 million).
Tehran Municipality, which has invested 43.8 trillion rials ($193.8 million) in the corporation over the last four years, is the company's next financial source.
According to the report, just 33.6 trillion rials ($148.6 million) of the authorized funds were spent on the subway project, with the remaining being used to cover the company's debts and other expenses.
The issuance of participatory bonds has also brought in a total of 20.8 trillion rials ($92.03 million) for Tehran’s subway.
The harsh US sanctions against Iran, which have been in place since the summer of 2018, and the growing prices of imported goods should be considered when comparing achievements and budget expenditures.
Fiscal Deficit
Officials are planning new subway development projects, according to the head of Tehran City Council’s Transportation Commission, but Tehran’s subway network needs 2 quadrillion rials ($8.84 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, the rial has lost 70% of its value against the greenback over the past year.
On Saturday, the US dollar was traded at 226,000 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,” Alikhani said.
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.
Hence, Tehran Metro’s managers need to address the shortfalls at the earliest to help people observe the health protocols for combating Covid-19.
