TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Iranian official said that many foreign financiers are keen to invest and help the development of the country's railroad lines due to the regional importance of Iran's rail network.

"The development of certain Iranian railroad lines are important for the regional corridors and therefore, other countries are also interested in them and welcome partnership in their development and completion," Deputy Director of Construction and Development of Infrastructures Transportation Company (CDITC) Seyed Masoud Nasr Azadani told FNA on Saturday.

He named Qazvin-Rasht-Anzali-Astara and Mianeh-Tabriz as instances of the Iranian rail lines that foreign financiers are willing to partner in.

In relevant remarks in January, Gilan Province's Governor-General Mohammad Ali Najafi announced that Russian and Chinese investors are to provide enough finance for the giant project of Rasht-Astara railway in the Northern parts of Iran.

Najafi said that the investment would be in the form of finance and the expert groups from Ministry of Roads and the Management and Planning Organization are busy taking the bid into consideration.

The project is expected to cost about 14,000 billion rials (Iranian currency), he added.

The official said the project was expected to be operational by next 18 months.

He further added that the railway connects Iran to the Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia on the North and the Persian Gulf states on the South.

Russian and China, as two main economic partners of Iran, have voice readiness to participate in implementation of the country's infrastructural projects, including railroads.

By Fars News Agency