Russia has agreed to build the Rasht-Astara railway which stretches 167 kilometers in northwestern part of Iran.
The agreement was reached by Iranian Railways President Mohsen Pour-Seyyed-Aqaie and Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin during the 60th meeting of the Council for Rail Transport of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, which wrapped up on Wednesday.
The Rasht-Astara railway is part of the proposed Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway which will connect North Europe to Southeast Asia. It is planned to be linked with Azerbaijan’s railway network.
Infrastructure operations on the Qazvin-Rasht section of the railway have been completed. The section will extend 205 kilometers from north to northwest of the country.
The Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway is estimated to carry 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million tons of cargo per year.
