Train to Bring Tourists From 11 Countries to Iran

Tourists from 11 countries are expected to arrive in Iran on September 23 by the newly-launched tourism train named "1001 Nights", an official of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways said.

Almost a week ago, a group of 59 foreign travelers started their train tour from Tashkent in Uzbekistan, crossing Samarkand and Bukhara cities, and later Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, Tin News website reported.

"The train will continue its path to Iran, through Sarakhs border city in North Khorasan Province," Ali Kazemi Manesh, IRIR's director for planning and monitoring of rail services, said.

"Carrying travelers from Algeria, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, Australia, England, India, France, Belgium, Austria and Russia, the train will pass through Yazd, Isfahan, Fars and Tehran in a week."

This is the 21st tourist train IRIR has launched to develop rail tourism in the country.

Given the popularity of tourist trains across the world, Iran’s national railroads company is endeavoring to catch up with other countries.

Recently, in cooperation with a tourist company, the rail company has embarked on a project to expand train tourism across Iran.

Another recent effort was the launch of Tabriz-Razi tourist train in East Azarbaijan Province on Sept. 21 after the locals welcomed previous lines of Tehran-Savadkouh and Andimeshk-Tang-i-Panj trains.

A tourist train is not intended as a practical transportation, but as a museum-style attraction to see, as an activity to do, or a means of employing historical dining or sleeper train cars as somewhere to eat or sleep for novelty or entertainment purposes.