Russian Railways to Electrify 600km of Iran’s Railroads
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russian Railways company is holding talks with Iran to electrify 600 kilometers of railroads in the Islamic Republic, the company’s deputy president announced.
“It is a concrete project, which was discussed with the Iranians literally last week,” Russian Railways deputy president Alexander Saltanov was quoted by the Moscow Times as saying.
Delegations from Russian Railways and its subsidiary Russian Railways International will go to Iran “in the near future” to work through the technical side of the venture, he added on Tuesday.
The total cost of the project has not been determined, but could exceed 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), Saltanov said.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB earlier reported that an Iranian delegation, including executives from Iran’s state-owned rail corporation, signed a memorandum of mutual understanding on the project with their Russian counterparts during a visit to Moscow last week.
Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin said during the meeting that Iran is one of Russia’s most important partners, particularly in the sphere of railway transport, according to the report.
Yakunin added that the current international situation would allow Russia and Iran to sign important bilateral economic documents in the near future.
