BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 22. Iran and Russia
have a common will to soon start the construction of the
Rasht-Astara railway line in Gilan province, located in northern
Iran, within the framework of the North-South Corridor, Iran’s
Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and Executive
Director of the Transport Infrastructure Construction and
Development Company Houshang Bazvand told local media, Trend reports.
According to him, a common denominator was reached on the
framework of cooperation, technical issues and construction
mechanism regarding the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway
during a meeting of the Iran-Russia Joint Economic Cooperation
Commission in Tehran in recent days.
Bazvand said that the parties are responsible for the
construction process, the division of tasks, and making decisions
on technical issues. Thus, agreement was reached on many provisions
of the contract related to construction.
The Deputy Minister said that the discussions also include a
mechanism for management and price changes from the start of
construction until its completion. So that operations can be
carried out without any disagreements, in accordance with real
conditions and technical issues.
“According to the basic principles of cooperation, an agreement
has been reached to adhere to the framework of operations, the
financial resources for construction have been predetermined, and
there will be no changes to these resources,” he noted.
The intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and
India on September 12, 2000, laid the foundation for the
North-South Transport Corridor. In general, several countries have
ratified the said agreement. (Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of
Belarus, Republic of Bulgaria, India, Islamic Republic of Iran,
Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Sultanate of Oman,
Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Türkiye,
Ukraine). The purpose of establishing the corridor is to reduce the
delivery time of cargo traveling from India to Russia, as well as
to Northern and Western Europe (the delivery time along the
existing route is more than six weeks; it is expected to be three
weeks via North-South).
The Gazvin-Rasht railroad, stretching 175 km, hit the ground
running on March 6, 2019, linking Azerbaijan’s railroads with
Iran’s railway network in the corridor. The Rasht-Astara railroad
is set to take shape on Iranian soil.
The North-South Corridor has three directions within Iran. The
eastern direction is Turkmenistan and Central Asian countries, the
middle direction is Russia and other countries across the Caspian
Sea, and the western direction is Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and
Eastern European countries.
Russia and Iran signed an agreement on May 17, 2023, to build
the Rasht-Astara railroad in Gilan province in northern Iran. Nine
stations will be built on the Rasht-Astara railroad line, which is
about 163 kilometers long. With the completion of this railroad,
the North-South international corridor will be improved, and Iran’s
railroad network will be integrated with Caucasus countries,
Russia, and Northern European countries. According to the
agreement, the Russian side is expected to spend 1.6 billion euros
for the construction of this railroad. This railroad will be built
and completed within 48 months.
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