Russia’s participation in financing of Rasht-Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) railway discussed in Baku

Terms of participation of Russian Railways OJSC in the financing of the Rasht-Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) railway line have been discussed in Baku, head of the press-service of Azerbaijan Railways OJSC Nadir Azmammadov told Trend July 2.

The discussions were held during the trilateral meeting of the representatives of the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.

Speaking at the meeting, Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways OJSC Javid Gurbanov informed in detail about the projects implemented by the railway company and the tasks facing the organization.

Gurbanov noted that the project implementation of the North-South international transport corridor will play an important role in improving Azerbaijan’s transit potential, as well as expansion of ties between the countries.

The work carried out by Azerbaijan regarding the construction of Astara (Azerbaijan)-Astara (Iran) connecting line, the work of the Iranian side on the construction of Qazvin-Rasht section, as well as Russia's participation in cargo transportation increase on Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran, Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran-India routes were also discussed at the trilateral meeting.

A final protocol was signed at the event.

On December 7, 2015, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order to speed up the work on the Azerbaijani section of the North-South project.

In accordance with the decree in April 2016, foundation of the bridge with a length of 82.5 meters along the Astara River was laid on the border between Azerbaijan and Iran. In early March 2016, construction of the railway section with a length of 8.3 kilometers started from the Astara (Azerbaijan) station till the border with Iran.

Construction of the bridge and the railway will be completed by late 2016.

The North-South transportation corridor is aimed to connect Northern Europe with South-East Asia, as well as to connect railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.

At the initial stage, it is planned to transport five million tons of cargo via the corridor, expandable to more than 10 million tons of cargo in the future.

/By Trend/