300km new railway to be inaugurated by next March

The managing director of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI) said that 300 kilometers of new railways will be inaugurated in the country by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2025).

Making the remarks in a press conference on Monday, Miad Salehi also announced that 883 kilometers of railways were put into operation in the previous government.
The official said that in the 33 months of the 13th government activity, 883 kilometers of railway lines were built and put into operation, of which 390 kilometers were the first line, 320 kilometers were the second line, and 164 kilometers were the lines connecting enterprises to the rail network.

Rail transport up 71% in 13th government

Further in his remarks, the RAI managing director said that with the diplomacy of rail transport, the annual record of rail transport was broken in the previous government, in a way that transport via railway rose by 71 percent during the 33 months of the 13th government’s incumbency, as compared to the same past time span.

In terms of passenger transportation through railway, Salehi said, “We saw record breaking in this field in the Iranian years 1401(ended on March 20, 2023) and 1402 (ended on March 19, 2024); Last year, the record of rail transportation was broken with the transportation of 31,780,000 passengers.”
The official went on to say that, “By implementing the order of the Islamic Revolution’s Leader on the issue of oil barter, we are looking for 500 percent allocation in the railway sector. In the last month of the previous [Iranian] year, the first payment due to oil barter was received, the second one was received in the second month of this year, and the third one will be received in the next few days.”

In mid-May, Salehi said a $500-million fund has been allocated for purchasing the equipment, repairing and modernizing the railway fleet of the country using oil bartering.
He made the remarks in a meeting with the producers and repairmen of the railway fleet of the country, adding that another $500 million will also be earmarked for buying locomotives.
The official further pointed out that the construction of 50 freight locomotives of the company would be awarded to the private sector in the coming month.

The development of the railway sector has been one of the macro policies of the Iranian government as it has been emphasized by the general policies of the country’s national development plans.
In this regard, the national railway fleet has constantly received new domestically-made locomotives and wagons in the past and current Iranian calendar years.

Advantages such as consuming less fuel and creating less pollution as well as high safety attach priority to the railway when compared to some other transportation systems, and make its development economically viable.

Source: Tehran Times