Iran Plans To Construct New Line Around Caspian Sea

Currently, Iran is reviewing the issue of construction of a new rail line in order to lock up the railway ring around the Caspian Sea, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and CEO of Iranian Railways, Mohsen Pour Seyed Aghaei told Trend Oct.22.
During the summit of the heads of Caspian Sea countries in Astrakhan, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to create a railway ring around the Caspian Sea.

He said the construction of such a railway will create opportunities for the transportation of goods at a reasonable price and in a short time, and ensure the competitiveness of economies of the Caspian Sea countries.

Pour Seyed Aghaei said that currently, the Qazvin - Rasht - Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railway is under construction in the west of the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea.

“The construction of this railway is a priority for us. Aside from that the construction of Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railroad in the east of the Caspian Sea has been completed and the opening ceremony for this railroad will be held in December 2014,” he said.
He said that in order to lock up the railway ring around the Caspian Sea, it is planned to construct a new Rasht-Sari railway on Iranian territory.

“After the Astrakhan summit, we carried out research work on the construction of the Rasht-Sari railway. If the technical evaluation brings positive results, we will start the construction of this railway in 2014,” Pour Seyed Aghaei said.(Cihan/Ria Novosti)