Iran expects to sign agreement with Russia soon on completion of Rasht-Astara railroad section
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - Tehran expects to sign an agreement with Russia on the completion of the Rasht-Astara railway section in Iran and start construction in the near future, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said, speaking at the Caucasus Investment Exhibition on Wednesday.
"I must convey to the distinguished participants in today's discussion the good news that in the very near future an agreement will be signed on the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway section with the help of the Russian Federation, and this project will be transferred to an operational, practical plane. I think that within three or four months, maximum October, the execution phase for implementation of this ITC North-South corridor project will be launched," the ambassador said.
In March, Sergey Pavlov, the first deputy head of Russian Railways, also told reporters that Russian Railways was expecting the signing of intergovernmental agreements on the completion of the Rasht-Astara railway line this year. The Russian Ministry of Transport is preparing two intergovernmental agreements: Iran-Russia and trilateral Azerbaijan-Russia-Iran.
Answering the question of how much the construction of the site is estimated to cost, Pavlov reported that "the approximate calculation now being considered is $ 1.6 billion." There are plans to build both narrow and wide-gauge tracks in this section.
"There were negotiations, including at the highest level, and a decision was made to build a section of the Rasht-Astara line on a combined gauge. That is, they plan to lay both 1435 mm rails, the current standard in Iran, and 1520 mm rails, the Russian gauge. But first, 1435 mm rails will be laid in order to use the existing infrastructure and move as quickly as possible," he stressed.
The North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC) connects Russia with the countries of the Caspian basin, the Persian Gulf, Central, South and Southeast Asia.
