Iran, Iraq Mulling Railroad Construction
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Tehran and Baghdad have agreed to develop a joint plan to construct a railroad route, Iran’s minister of roads and urban development announced, expressing the hope that the project would become operational until the next 17 months.
Speaking to reporters after a visit to Iraq, Abbas Akhoundi said the two countries had discussed technical details of the joint project in multiple expert meetings during a recent visit to Iran by an Iraqi delegation.
Akhoundi traveled to Iraq’s Basra on Thursday to begin the construction of the railroad connecting the Iraqi city to Iran’s southwestern city of Khorramshahr.
The Iranian part of the joint railroad, measuring 12 kilometers between Khorramshahr and the border city of Shalamcheh, is now completed, while Iraq is yet to construct the remaining 32 kilometers of the track on its soil.
For the project, the Iranian side has undertaken to build a 700-meter movable railroad bridge over the Arvand River. It will connect the Iraqi island of Sindbad with Iran’s Arvand Kenar.
Akhoundi said efforts are underway to finish the project until November 2016.
