The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways signed a contract with French designing company AREP on Wednesday for redesign, redevelopment and expansion of railroad stations in three major cities: Tehran, Mashhad and Qom.
The contract is unprecedented in the 100-year history of Iran’s railroad, according to director of IRIR, Mohsen Pourseyyed Aghaei.
“Throughout the years since railroads were first built in Iran, no renovation plans have been carried out on the stations and many of the facilities are now more than 80 years old,” he noted.
AREP, which is a multidisciplinary consultancy and a subsidiary of France’s state-owned railroad company SNCF, will carry out its redevelopment projects with focus on four basic approaches, including development of multimodal stations, development of public transport system, design of high-speed train stations and design of suburban railroads.
According to Pourseyyed Aghaei, AREP’s development projects in Iran are aimed at promoting easy access between urban and suburban areas and integrating the country’s fragmented transportation system.
“The existing transportation modes are fragmented. Not even one of the existing subways in Tehran is connected to airports or train stations,” he said.
Observing that railroad development projects in Iran require a total investment of more than 10 trillion rials ($300 million), Pourseyyed Aghaei said the contract signed with AREP is worth €7 million ($7.78 million) and is expected to be completed in 20 months.
“The contract includes only the designing phase. For executing the projects fresh financial resources need to be allocated by the Management and Planning Organization,” said the official.
He noted that Iranian engineering companies and contractors will be appointed to carry out the supervision and execution of the projects to facilitate transfer of knowledge and expertise between French and Iranian engineers.
Development and improvement of railroads has been a top priority for the Rouhani’s administration. General director of regulation and supervision office at IRIR, Morteza Jafari on Thursday said 6 million passengers used the national rail network in the first three months of current Iranian year (March 21-June 21).
