KAZAN, May 19. /TASS/. The construction of the Rasht-Astara railway section in Iran is scheduled to be completed in 2027, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov told reporters on Friday. He was speaking on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum "Russia - the Islamic World: KazanForum 2023.

According to him, the design of the railway section is already underway.

"According to the agreement, the construction should take four years. Design and geological exploration are already underway. We plan that in the third quarter of 2027 or by the end of 2027, all work will be completed," he said.

Russia and Iran signed an agreement on joint construction of the railway section on May 17.

Some 170 km long, the Rasht-Astara line is designed to link land sections of the International North-South Transport Corridor, which will boost the economic efficiency of the trans-Caspian route. It is planned that the Rasht-Astara line will be built by Moscow and Tehran, while the Astara (Iranian city) - Astara (Azerbaijani city) line will be constructed by Moscow, Tehran, and Baku. The cost of the section’s construction is $1.6 billion.