Iran’s railway network is 10,000-km long and the transport strategy stipulates the development of the system to meet the mobility needs of freight and passengers, to establish a sustainable economy and implicitly to reduce the negative impact of road transport on the environment. According to the authorities, the extension plans of the network include the construction of another 15,000 km of railways. The network is expected to measure 25,000 km in 2025 of which 7,500 km of lines are in construction.
In order to meet these objective, this year, Iran signed a series of international agreements aimed at financing and developing the railway sector.
In April 2016, the general manager of Iran’s railway company, Mohsen Pour-Seyed Aqaei, and DG MOVE’s general manager, Henrik Hololei, discussed railway cooperation possibilities. The Iranian side presented a report on the possibilities of connection to the railway network in Asia and Europe, as well as to the CIS States, via Turkmenistan and Astara, to Azerbaijan. Hololei expressed its availability of bilateral cooperation, technological transfer and consultations regarding Iran’s railway projects. In June, Great Britain’s Department for Transport (DfT) and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development signed a MoU for the development of Iran’s railway system. According to the document, the parties agreed to exchange technology, optimise the management systems, as well as railway systems.
With Italy, Iran signed a series of cooperation documents including signing an agreement between Ferrovie dello Station and Railways of Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIR) for the construction of two high-speed lines, Tehran – Hamedan and Qom – Arak, an agreement worth around EUR 3 billion. FS Italiane group is active in Iran and signed contracts through Italfer and Italcertifer. Italferr has been selected to provide technical assistance for the 400 km Tehran-Qom-Isfahan high-speed line project and will also provide technical assistance for the electrification of the 900 km Tehran-Mashhad line. Italcertifer is involved in the elaboration of the preliminary study for Test Centre of the Iranian Railways (Infrastructures and Rolling Stock) and participated in the light rail tender with Mashhad, being preferred bidder.
With Germany, Iran Railways and DB International signed a memorandum of understanding to optimise the software system and to implement rail development projects. IRIR manager Mohsen Pour Seyed Aqaei announced that 83 projects will be implemented over the next 2 years as part of the MoU.
In 2016, Russia announced it was ready to grant Iran a EUR 2.5 billion loan for transport infrastructure projects, this grant being dependent of the contracts between local and Russian companies. One of the projects concerned is the electrification of 495 km of line linking the north-central part of the country to the north-east of the border to Turkmenistan. The contract with RZD is worth EUR 1.2 billion and includes the construction of 32 stations and 95 tunnels. Traffic between the two countries will be significantly optimised. The International Bank of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Urban Development signed the contract for a loan of USD 500 million regarding the construction of Rasht-Astara railway with an estimated cost of USD 1.1 billion. The line is important as it is part of the North-South Transport Corridor that will provide connection between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia.
China will also be involved in Iran’s railway development, China National Transportation Equipment & Engineering (CTC) company announcing it was ready to complete the USD 3 billion agreement for the railway connecting Tehran to the city of Mashhad which would be around 930-km long. China’s Export and Import Bank could cover 85% of the project’s total cost, while CTC will provide engineering, procurement and construction services.
The biggest dry port contract signed
Construction of transport facilities is an important step in Iran for the development of the country’s freight transport system, through new infrastructures and routes. The projects aim to create and operate the infrastructure, to install performant management systems, to build rail freight stations, container terminals and logistics parks.
A pilot project was launched this year for rail connection between Yiwu, China and Tehran, the travel time between the two terminus points being of 13 days. According to estimates, container rail traffic between China and Iran will increase by 2020 to 700,000 containers a year. Under these circumstances, Iran launches projects aimed at developing a proper transport infrastructure to meet demand. Also, India is trying to revive transit routes to Middle East via the Iranian ports to Persian Gulf, Azerbaijan and Russia and, on medium term, it plans to establish connections to Europe.
At this point, Aprin Terminal is one of the important projects of Iran’s freight transport system as the biggest dry port of the country. 20 km away from Tehran, near Islamshahr, the port is part of the transport junctions on the north-south and east-west railway axes with access to the road network as well. The region is attractive for investments and is a transport node. Currently, between 600 and 1,200 freight cars cross Aprin Station to be delivered to the country’s main rail points.
At the beginning of 2016, the construction project of Aprin Terminal was approved and the project contractor was announced in September. PTB Perse International Forwarding Co, a subsidiary of Swiss TransInvest Group, won the tender for the development and operation of the terminal. Based on the contract signed with Iranian Railways, the company won the concession contract for a period of 25 years, of which 3 years will be the construction of the terminal and 22 years, its operation. Aprin will have a surface of 450 hectares. The first phase will include the development and operation of 55 hectares. Its capacity will be of 400,000 TEUs and the investment amounts to USD 30 million.
PTB Group is actively involved in Iran’s transport system shipping containers by rail from Bandar Abbas Port (south of Iran) to Tehran. In the future, containers will be shipped by rail directly to vessels and will be taken over Aprin.
“Despite numerous other international forwarders in Iran, PTB has been and still is the front runner in the development of a modern Iranian transport industry. We have filed an application with the port authorities in Bandar Abbas to extend our terminal there; we want to add another 110,000 m² for new handling facilities and storage capacities”, says Parviz Golabi, Managing Director and Member of the Board of the PTB Group.
by Pamela Luica
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