The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways said domestic carriage manufacturers in the private sector will be given priority to supply passenger cars and cargo wagons. The head of the organization, Mohsen Pour-Seyed said, if domestic producers have the production capacity, foreign carriage producers will not be offered permit. The country needs 100 passenger cars and more than 1,000 cargo wagons. He added that the average age of Iran’s fleet exceeds 30 years and modernization of the country’s rolling stock is inevitable. Iran has recently signed an agreement with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to open a regional railway network. The project will become operational in November. “The Kazakhstan Turkmenistan-Iran railway opens up the possibility for handling of 10 million metric tons of cargo,” president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev said during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in Astana September 10.
