Iran Railways’ deputy for planning and investment Nourollah Beiranvand said that Azerbaijan agreed to allocate funds for Rasht-Astara railway project on Iran territory, Trend reports.
The construction of the Rasht-Astara section will cost Iran USD 1.1 billion and Azerbaijan will provide Iran with a loan of USD 600 million to complete the construction of the railway section. Half of the needed investment will be provided by Azerbaijan and the remain financing will be allotted by Iran. The agreement signed between Azerbaijan Railways and Iran Railways envisages that Azerbaijan rents the railway line for a period of 15 years, and terminals for 25 years.
The two countries are making efforts to connect their railways through the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara route, connecting Iran’s northern city of Astara to Azerbaijan’s Astara.
The 2 km rail section will link a freight terminal on Iran’s Astara city border to a bridge that now is under construction and links the two countries. The length of the line is 10 km of which 8 km are on Azerbaijan’s territory, and 2 km are passing through Iran. The construction of the railway bridge over the Astarachay River also nears completion. The construction of the bridge, that forms the border between the two similarly-named towns of Astara in Azerbaijan and Iran, was launched in April 2016. The length of the rail bridge is 82.5 meters, while its width will amount to 10.6 meters.
The project, through Qazvin-Rasht-Astara line, is part of North-South Transport Corridor, a multimodal transport route that will link India and Middle East to Caucasus region, Central Asia and Europe. At the initial stage, the North-South corridor will transport 5 million tonnes of cargo per year with further expansion in the volumes of transport up to 10 million tonnes.
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