Iran’s Railway Linking East, West Asia: Deputy Roads Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The chief executive of the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran (RAI) said Iran’s railway is regarded as a linking bridge between East and West Asia and also acts as a crossing point between the two important continents of Asia and Europe.
Speaking at the 15th Meeting of Heads of ECO Railway Authorities, and 9th Meeting of Railway Committee of the Transit Transport Coordination Council, attended by the senior railway officials of Turkey, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Azerbaijan, Miad Salehi expounded the position of the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the international rail sector.
Considering that Iran has the shortest route connecting the countries of Central Asia with international waters and Europe and has a high security and safety route, most of the international rail corridors of the ECO region pass through Iran's rail route including the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Almaty-Istanbul-Tehran transport corridor, Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul corridor, Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran (KTI) transport corridor, Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran corridor, he noted.
The deputy roads minister said facilitating border transit operations and strengthening the logistics centers and border terminals are the main programs of the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran to increase the capacity of transit and international transportation, IRNA reported.
Iran is pursuing to make rail transport competitive with the sea route, launch this train on both sides, and export Iranian products and goods to China by train, Salehi added.