MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Iran is taking steps to complete the railway construction project on the Rasht-Astara section, as the missing section of the North-South railway corridor, as well as to electrify the Garmsar-Inche Burun railway section, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said in an interview with TASS.
"Given the variety of Western, Eastern and maritime transport routes available on this corridor, fortunately, part of the route is currently operated in a combined form, while efforts are being made to alleviate and eliminate logistical obstacles in the course of combined shipments. We are taking measures to complete the project construction of a railway on the Rasht-Astara section, as the missing section on the North-South railway corridor, and electrification of the Garmsar-Inche Burun railway section," the diplomat said.
Iran, India and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement on the creation of a multi-mode North-South transport corridor in 2000. Later, the number of participants expanded to 14. The goal of the project is to attract the transit of cargo flows from India, Iran and the Persian Gulf countries through the Russian territory to Europe (in comparison with the sea route through the Suez Canal, the distance is more than halved, which reduces the time and cost of transportation). For the moment, the project combines several various transport systems of individual states. India has invested about $2.1 billion in the project. Part of it was invested in the construction of transport infrastructure in Iran.