Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said the government is against imports of “all types of wagons and locomotives.”
“We currently have 2,200 passenger cars, which we are planning to increase to 4,000,” IRNA quoted the minister as saying in a conference held on the sidelines if the Fourth International Exhibition of Rail Transport, Related Industries and Services in Tehran on Sunday.
“Domestic companies supply 45% of passenger cars in Iran,” he said, adding that the country has the capacity to increase the figure to 70%.
There are 22,000 freight cars in Iran’s rail fleet, which Nematzadeh says should increase to 50,000.
“Close to 83% of Iranian freight cars are manufactured domestically,” he said.
Rail officials have already unveiled plans to increase the share of domestic companies in Iran’s freight car market.
Babak Ahmadi, deputy head of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, said last week that the company has put forward a proposal to produce 5,000 freight cars inside Iran.
“All those wagons will be manufactured through international finance by domestic companies such as Pars Wagon, Wagon Kowsar and Arak Steel,” he said.
Ahmadi noted that unavailable parts will be supplied by a Russian company, without disclosing further details.
According to the official, one of the ultimate goals of this project is for Iranian companies to be able to carry out all the stages of freight car manufacturing process domestically.
Elsewhere in his remarks at the Tehran Rail Expo’s opening ceremony, Nematzadeh referred to the recent inauguration of a rail production line in Isfahan Steel Company and said the capacity can potentially reach 500,000 tons of rail per year to meet a significant part of domestic demand.
Speaking at the same conference, IRIR CEO Mohsen Pourseyyed Aqaei said as per Iran’s 2025 Vision Plan, the country needs to increase the share of rails in freight transit and passenger transportation to 30% and 18% respectively.
“The country’s rail network has reached 10,500 kilometers. As per the Vision Plan, IRIR should build 9,000 kilometers of railroads. Contracts for the construction of 5,000 kilometers of railroads have so far been secured,” he said.
“Our priority is to connect Iran’s rail network to all neighboring countries.”
Aqaei noted that currently, Iran’s railroads are linked to Turkmenistan, Turkey and Pakistan, and will later link up with Azerbaijan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
More than 350 domestic and 110 international companies are participating in the rail event that is underway at Tehran’s International Fairground. It runs until May 18.
Companies from Germany, the UK, Switzerland, France, Italy, Turkey, China, Finland, Bangladesh, Belgium, Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, Poland, Sweden and Bulgaria are advertising their latest technologies, products and services related to commuter and inter-city passenger and freight rail transport, repair, maintenance, insurance and after-sales services.
Germany’s Siemens, Canada’s Bombardier, France’s Alstom and the Swiss Stadler Rail Group are among the big names.
The exhibition also hosts railroad officials from Spain, Japan, Italy, Kazakhstan, China and Czech Republic as well as commercial delegations from Spain and Japan.
