Incomplete Rail Projects Require $21b

Iran needs about 800 trillion rials ($21.3 billion) to complete 3,500 kilometers of its 22 under-construction rail projects, a deputy minister of roads and urban development said.

Kheirollah Khademi also told the Persian daily Shargh that the government has prioritized rail connections between five provincial capitals.

Earlier this month, a 267-km line between Tehran and Hamedan’s provincial capital came on stream.

Four other provincial capitals plan to join Iran’s rail network by the yearend, including Qazvin-Rasht, the so-called Gharb (West) project connecting the city of Arak in the central Markazi Province to Khosravi Border Crossing in the western Kermanshah Province bordering Iraq, Mahabad-Urmia and Mianeh-Bostanabad railroad projects.

Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi earlier said the government will operate 1,800 kilometers of railroads by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2018), of which more than 900 km pertain to double-tracking.