Tehran, Sept 19, IRNA Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi announced Irans readiness for a trilateral investment with Azerbaijan and Russia for the completion of Qazvin-Rasht-Anzali-Astara railway.
Speaking in a meeting with the Azeri Minister of Economy and Industry Shahin Mustafayev, he said that for the development of Iran-Azerbaijan transportation relations in addition to the completion of Qazvin-Astara railway which might take several years two short-term mechanisms are proposed for speedy implementation.
The first is extension of Azerbaijan railway up to Astara in Iran in order to transport commodities from Azerbaijan to Iran through railway and reload goods at Astara terminal. For this purpose, Azerbaijan should extend its railway another eight kilometer to reach the two countries' shared broder, which is possible in the short run. In continuation goods can be carried from Astara to Qazvin on trucks and from there to Bandar Abbas on train, he said.
As for the second mechanism, Akhoundi pointed to the construction of the 40 kilometer Rasht-Anzali railway.
He said that the goods shipped from Azerbaijan Republic to Iran's Anzali Port can be reloaded on train destined for Bandar Abbas.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian minister said that the Iran-Turkmenistan railroad will be connected in Inche Boron border and from there it will be connected to Kazakhstan and then to Russia and China.