Iran wants Indian firms on board for railway link

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Raghvendra Rao Posted: Apr 24, 2008 at 2312 hrs IST

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NEW DELHI, APRIL 23: Iran has invited Indian companies like RITES, IRCON and CONCOR to bid for developing a 600-km long railway link between Chabahar and Fahraj. The link, when completed, will provide India a multi-modal transport corridor with Russia via Iran, bypassing Pakistan, under UNESCAP's ambitious Trans Asian Railway (TAR) project.

The invitation was extended during a recent meeting between the International Union of Railways' chairman K C Jena, who is also the chairman of the Railway Board in India, and Iran's Deputy Minister for Roads and Transportation Dr Hassan Ziari who also heads the Iranian Railways in Tehran.

The route being planned from Chabahar first connects Fahraj, then goes to Tehran and the port of Amirabad on the Caspian Sea, reaches Astrakhan port in Russia and then connects Moscow and St Petersburg. Once completed, it would provide Indian goods direct access to Central Asia and Europe from Mumbai port and is expected to significantly cut the travel time.

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Considering India's interest in the development of Chabahar port and the construction of the Chabahar-Fahraj railway line on the North-South corridor of the TAR, Iran requested India to encourage Indian companies like RITES, IRCON and CONCOR to carry out supplementary studies to ascertain opportunities for viable investments in this project from both sides. The Iran Government also underlines that it will make efforts to provide facilities to involve Indian companies.

"This link will give Indian access from Chabahar to the Baltic Sea. India, Russia and Iran are working on this North-South corridor. By the time we go to UIC's meeting in Seoul in May, the three countries may sign an MoU on this project," Jena said on Wednesday.

India's hopes of getting rail access to Iran via Pakistan have, for long, been thwarted by a 545-km long missing link between the rail networks of Iran and Pakistan.

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