Mechanized track laying of Hamedan-Sanandaj railroad is underway — the former is the capital city of the central Hamedan Province and the latter is the capital of the western Kurdestan Province.
A ceremony was held last week to flag off the track laying, which was attended by Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami.
According to Deputy Roads Minister Kheirollah Khademi, the 150-kilometer railroad is part of the longer 420-kilometer Tehran-Hamedan-Sanandaj project. Once completed, Sanandaj will be linked to the national rail network.
“Kurdestan will be Iran’s 23rd province to be linked to the national rail network. The 270-kilometer-long section linking Tehran to Hamedan was inaugurated by President Hassan Rouhani in May 2017. The route will continue westward by passing through Bahar and Lalejin counties in Hamedan [48 kilometers] and Qorveh and Dehgolan counties in Kurdestan Province to reach the provincial capital of Sanandaj [102 kilometers],” Khademi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official noted that the overall progress of the project, which has been defined in three phases, currently stands at around 50%.
“The project is estimated to need 21,000 tons of rail, which will all be supplied domestically. This is a bonus because the project can be carried out without delays. Around 65 kilometers of the rail route are ready for track laying,” Khademi, who doubles as the CEO of Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company, told Fars News Agency.
He expects the project to be completed by the next Iranian year (March 2021-22).
“When the Hamedan-Sanandaj railroad is completed, it will be possible to expand the project further to East and West Azarbaijan and Kermanshah provinces,” he added.
Hamedan-Sanandaj Railroad is designed for passenger and cargo trains to travel at a speed of up to 160 kilometers per hour and 120 km per hour respectively.
“The railway will transport an estimated 500,000 tons of cargo and 300,000 passengers within the first year of its inauguration. These figures will rise to 1 million tons and 600,000 passengers in a 20-year vision plan,” he said.
According to the news portal of the Roads Ministry, more than 3.95 trillion rials ($14 million) have so far been spent on the Hamedan-Sanandaj railroad and 12.45 trillion rials ($45 million) are needed to complete the project.
Domestic Rail Production
Several domestic companies are engaged in the project, including Esfahan Steel Company that manufactures rails and Iran Rail Industries Development Company (IRIDCO) that provides the needle rail for railroad track switching.
Esfahan Steel Company supplied a total of 15,000 tons of rail to the domestic market during the first three months of the current Iranian year (March 20-June 20) to register a threefold rise compared with the similar period of last year, according to an official of the company.
“ESCO supplied its first-ever locally-manufactured rail to the market more than a year ago. Since then, we have sold around 30,000 tons of the product to our customers,” Amin Yousefzadeh was quoted as saying by ILNA.
“The company manufactures close to 6,000 tons of rail per month. Our aim is to increase the figure to 10,000 tons. The goal is to produce 100,000 tons of rails by the [fiscal] yearend [March 20, 2021].”
ESCO was jointly established in 1965 by Iran and the Soviet Union’s Tyazhpromexport Company in Isfahan Province.
The company is also supplying 92,000 tons of rails to the 700-kilometer Chabahar-Zahedan railroad, which connects the southeastern port city of Chabahar to the eastern city of Zahedan near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to Mohammad Reza Azarian, the project manager, UIC60 rails manufactured by Esfahan Steel Company will be used in this project.
“As per a contract with ESCO, the Isfahan-based company will supply 5,000 tons of rails in the first stage, of which 1,000 tons have been delivered. Track-laying of one kilometer of railroad is planned to be completed in one day,” he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
With the new railroad in place, 927,000 passengers and 2.8 million tons of cargo will be handled annually by March 2023.
The average speed of freight trains will be 120 km per hour. Passenger trains will run at 160 km per hour.
It will create jobs for 13,000 people and 3,000 will be involved directly in the project.
As planned, the track laying of 150 kilometers of Chabahar-Zahedan railroad will be completed by March 2021.
