Share of Railroad in Steel Transportation at One-Third

Some 60 million tons of steel products were transported in Iran during the last Iranian year (March 2016-17). “The share of railroads from this amount was 20 million, that is one-third,” Saeed Mohammadzadeh, CEO of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency. IRIR recently signed a deal with Esfahan Steel Company for transporting ESCO’s products to the southern port of Shahid Rajaee. The agreement stipulates transporting at least 250,000 tons of ESCO-made products for export via railroad. ESCO is reportedly also planning to use railroad for its shipments to the eastern city of Zahedan close to Pakistan’s border and exports to Afghanistan. Iran’s sixth five-year development plan’s (2017-22) targets have it that the share of rails in overall cargo transportation should increase from the current 12% to 30%. Iranian railroads transported 40.3 million tons of cargo last year, which shows a 35% rise compared to the preceding year.