A senior official in Iran’s transportation ministry says the country is building some 2,800 kilometers of new railways.
Kheirollah Khademi, a deputy transport minister, said on Saturday that a bulk of the new railways being built across Iran is located along the north-south and east-west transport corridors that are aimed at increasing international cargo transit via the country.
Khademi said the two main rail transport corridors in Iran are estimated to be 9,100 kilometers in length when they are completely finished.
He said the country has finished 5,100 kilometers of those railways while works are underway for another 2,800 kilometers, adding that the construction of the remaining 1,200 kilometers has yet to start.
The senior official said that a key section of the north-south railway network in Iran which connects the southeastern port of Chabahar on the Sea of Oman to Zahedan near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan has progressed by 72%.
Khademi said the Chabahar-Zahedan railway could come on line by March 2026 if the government provides some 200 trillion rials ($340 million) in funding to the project.