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Iranian Transport Minister: â€œWeâ€™ll try to merge railway lines of Azerbaijan and Iran by the end of this yearâ€

30 October 2010 10:57 (UTC +04:00)

He says railway must be launched in all central provinces of Iran until 2025 in accordance to Iranâ€™s perspective development program: â€œWe have 15 year for this. 16 000 km railways must be launched during this period. There were 4 000 km railways in Iran 30 years ago. We launched 5 000 km railways until Islamic Revolution. We have sufficiently professionals for this. The supreme governing and president promised to allocate means.â€

He also noted that only one ring is short of North-South Corridor: â€œWe have railways from Bandar Abbas to Tehran and Qazvin. The works from Qazvin to Rasht are underway and 40% of works were conducted. 10 km railways were launched from Iranâ€™s Astara to Rasht and the works are underway.â€

Minister reminded the launching of railway from Iranâ€™s Astara to Azerbaijanâ€™s Astara: â€œWeâ€™ll try to merge the railways of Azerbaijan and Iran by the end of this year (New Year in Iran is celebrated on March 21). There must be launched only 8 km railway. Realization of North-South corridor will create opportunities for Iran to access to European Countries and Russia, for Azerbaijan to access to Iran Gulf. Realization of cargo transportation from Iran to these countries will change Azerbaijan to the transit center.