Iran, China Hold Talks on Electrifying Tehran-Mashhad Railroad

Iran and China held talks to finance the electrification of Tehran-Mashhad train lines, said Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways Jabar-Ali Zakeri on Tuesday. Zakeri also called for using a new system in Iranian railways to reduce costs and increase efficiency of trains, ISNA reported.

Once completed, the rail route could accommodate electric trains running at 200 km per hour, traveling between the two cities in six hours.

Tehran-Mashhad, the most frequented railway line of Iran and one of the few double-track lines of the country, with 926Km of length and 50 stations starts from Tehran, and ends in Mashhad in northeastern of Iran passing through the major cities of Garmsar, Semnan, Damghan, Shahroud, and Neishabour.

Currently, the highest possible speed on this route is 160 km per hour which will be increased to 200 km per hour after the electrification project is completed. Based on predictions, the railway will carry annually 33 million passengers and 10 million tons of freight by 2032.

Tehran is in negotiations with two Chinese companies to build a 1,100-kilometer-long railway in eastern Iran at a cost of about US$2 billion.

If the talks are successful, the state-run China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and Citic Group will build a rail link from the northwestern city of Mashhad along Iran’s eastern border to the port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman.

The two Chinese companies will carry out the project on an engineering, procurement and construction basis. - Iran Daily