Iran, Turkmenistan Seek Increased Cargo Transit via Railways

Iran and Turkmenistan have agreed to expand their cross-border railway links to increase the volume of cargo transit passing through the two countries to regional states.

Iran’s state rail company (RAJA) said in a Tuesday statement that its CEO Jabbar Ali Zakeri had visited the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat earlier this week to discuss plans to expand railway transit between the two countries.

The statement said that Zakeri and his Turkmen counterpart Azat Atamuradov had agreed in a meeting held on Thursday to increase the annual volume of cargo transit between the two countries to 10 million metric tons (mt) until the end of 2027.

The two railway chiefs also agreed that representatives from Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia should hold regular meetings to discuss cargo transit arrangements between the four countries.

Zakeri said that the meetings will be key to efforts to increase cargo transit from Russia to Pakistan via the railways of Iran and Turkmenistan. He said that Iran seeks to open a railway connection to Turkmenistan via its Lotfabad border crossing, adding that Iran’s customs office would offer major discounts on cargo transit via the crossing.

Atamuradov, who serves as head of the Railways Agency of Turkmenistan, said after the meeting that his country would soon add two new rail tracks to the existing facilities in Sarakhs border crossing to be able to process increased volumes of cargo to and from Iran.

Iran has expanded its road and railway networks in recent years to boost its revenues from cargo transit between regional countries. Figures released by the Iranian transportation ministry (MRUD) earlier this month showed that cargo transit via the country had risen 27% year on year in the 10 months to January 19 to reach some 15 million mt. - Press TV