The Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has published new data on the number of people using railroads.
A total of 17 million passengers were transported by railroads from the beginning of the current Iranian year on March 21 to the end of the seventh fiscal month on Oct. 22, registering a 55% rise compared with the similar period of last year, News.mrud.ir reported.
Rail passenger traffic stood at 9.6 million during the first four months of the year, marking a 10-year high.
The passenger-kilometer unit stood at 5.3 billion during the period.
Iran has more than 14,000 kilometers of railroads.
In another report, the ministry said Tehran Railways transported 2.73 million passengers during the same period to register a 4% rise compared with the similar period of last year. As a result, Tehran ranked first among Iran’s suburban railroads in terms of passenger transport.
Every day, some 78 trains commuted back and forth along the three routes of Tehran’s suburban railroads. A total of 15,500 trains travelled along Tehran’s suburban rails during the period.
Prioritized Rail Projects
Five prioritized rail projects are expected to come on stream within a yea: Khash-Zahedan, Bostanabad-Tabriz, Mianeh-Ardabil, Hamedan-Sanandaj and Rasht-Caspian, Kheirollah Khademi, the CEO of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company of Iran, said recently.
Zahedan-Khash railroad was inaugurated earlier in November with First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, the provincial governor of Sistan-Baluchestan, Hossein Modarres-Khiabani, and a group of Iranian officials in attendance.
Given the capacity of the border, ports and free trade zone, the construction of Chabahar-Zahedan railroad is one of the mega projects in Sistan-Baluchestan, Modarres-Khiabani was quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
"The project, which includes eight sections, was started in the fiscal 2013-14. It has made 62% physical progress and sections seven and eight with a length of 150 km were inaugurated today,” he said.
Noting that more than 67,000 billion rials (about $190 million) have been invested in the project so far, the official said, “A total of €250 million were planned to be allocated for the completion of this project during the president’s visit to Sistan-Baluchestan in September 2021. The railroad will be completed by March 2024 if it receives 70,000 billion rials [$200 million] in investment.”
Chabahar-Zahedan-Sarakhs railroad is one of the key national projects being implemented in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, the completion of which will lead to significant changes in commercial relations among different countries.
Chabahar-Sarakhs railroad is being built as a single line (90% for the shipment of goods and 10% for movement of passengers).
One of the main goals is to create a railroad corridor in the east of the country, connecting the commercial, transit, economic and tourism port of Chabahar to the country’s rail network and Central Asian countries. It will promote the development of Makran coast, create a suitable platform for the economic development of Sistan-Baluchestan and connect Central Asian countries and Afghanistan to high seas.
Chabahar-Zahedan-Milak-Sarakhs railroad is the main infrastructural priority in eastern Iran; the project will generate transit revenues and have a direct impact on job creation and economic progress of this region. Furthermore, it will make access to mines and their exploitation cost-effective.
Chabahar-Zahedan railroad connects Chabahar Port to the International North-South Transportation Corridor’s railroad and accelerates the development of southeast Iran and the expansion of commercial and economic exchanges and activities through Iran’s only oceanic port. It will finally connect Chabahar to the Caspian Sea and different parts of the world.
Khademi noted that the 44-kilometer-long Bostanabad-Tabriz railroad, which is a shortcut between the provincial capital of East Azarbaijan Province and Tehran, has made 95% progress and will be ready for inauguration within the next few months.
When completed, the railroad will cut Tabriz-Tehran travel time by four to five hours. Mianeh-Ardabil rail project, which will connect Ardabil Province to the national rail system, has made 85% progress until now, and estimates are that it will be ready for inauguration next year,” he said.
Khademi added that Hamedan-Sanandaj rail project has so far made 80% progress and that the project will connect Kurdestan Province to the national rail system upon completion.
“Rasht-Caspian railroad, which is a missing link in the International North-South Transportation Corridor, has had 70% progress to date and will be ready by the end of the current Iranian year [March 20, 2023]. The railroad will help connect the Persian Gulf in the south of the country to the Caspian Sea in the north,” he said.
Russian Railways to Develop Rasht-Astara Railroad
Russian Railways is expecting a decision soon on completing a section of the Rasht-Astara railroad line in Iran, Sergei Pavlov, the first deputy head of the company, said on Friday during the Made in Russia 2022 international export forum.
"Rasht-Astara is a serious obstacle today for connecting the [North-South] railroad into a single network," Pavlov said, noting that the RZD-Logistics subsidiary currently uses the route for multimodal transportation, Interfax reported.
"We are currently holding very intensive negotiations with the Iranian side and with the Azerbaijani side to launch the route," Pavlov said.
"I am certain that we will be able to hear positive news very soon, because all the participants, all the governments and the ministries of transportation and rail organizations are working toward the single goal of launching the railroad as soon as possible."
As Vali Kaleji, an expert on Central Asia and Caucasian Studies, wrote for the Jamestown Foundations, the Astara–Rasht–Qazvin railroad, which will wind along the southwestern corner of the Caspian, forms a central link of the longer INSTC, a multimodal route linking India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and Europe. The cross-border Astara (Iran)–Astara (Azerbaijan) section of the railroad was officially inaugurated on March 29, 2018, while the Rasht–Qazvin section inside Iran was implemented on March 6, 2019. Therefore, the only remaining gap is a 164-kilometer railroad section from Rasht to Astara. Until this rail segment is completed, freight moving by train must be transferred to trucks and then back again.
