Azerbaijan to operate railway facilitates in northern Iranian city

By  Trend

Azerbaijan will utilize railway facilities in the northern Iranian city of Astara for at least a decade in return for the construction of a railway segment connecting the two countries, an official with Iran’s railways told Trend.

Nourollah Beiranvand, the deputy for planning and investment at the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran (RAI), has said the sides during a meeting in Baku last week finalized the negotiations for financing the Rasht-Astara railway as well as the construction of the 10 kilometers long Astara (Iran)- Astara (Azerbaijan) railway segment.

Astara-Astara

Beiranvand has said that the first phase of the Astara-Astara railway will be inaugurated within the next one month.

Speaking about plans to connect the two border namesake cities - Astara in Iran and Astara in Azerbaijan - he said that Azerbaijan will invest in the construction of railways in both cities, as well as the construction of a railway station and cargo terminals in Iran’s Astara.

In turn, Azerbaijan will have the right to operate the Astara-Astara railway and a railway station in Iran’s Astara for 15 years as well as the terminals located in Iran’s Astara for 25 years.

This is while the Azerbaijani side has agreed to annually transit up to 2 million tons of freight through the Astara-Astara railway.

The Azerbaijani officials have earlier agreed to provide 60 million euros for developing railway facilities in Astara city in Iran.

The agreement envisages the construction of a railway station and four terminals for fuel, general cargo, grain and containers.

Rasht-Astara

Azerbaijan will provide Iran with a $500 million loan to construct the Rasht-Astara railway segment, Beiranvand said.

In case the allocated loan fails to cover the expenses for construction of the 164-kilometer railway, the Iranian side will be committed to provide the required resources for completing the project, the official added.

In the meantime, the Islamic Republic of Iran will be obliged to purchase the lands located along the railroad.

Strategic project

Describing the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway as a "strategic project" for both Iran and Azerbaijan, Beiranvand said the loan for financing the Rasht-Astara railway will be allocated in the form of government-to-government (G-to-G) financing.

The discussions to construct the two railway segments (Rasht-Astara, Astara-Astara) take place amid plans to officially launch the International North-South Transport Corridor, which is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia.

The corridor will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia. The corridor is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo per year at the initial stage and 15-20 million tons of cargo in the future.