TEHRAN - Transit of goods via railway network rose 55 percent in Iran since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21) until August 8, compared to the same period last year.

Some 1.2 million tons of cargo was transited via the national railway network in the past [Iranian calendar] year, while the figure is anticipated to reach 1.8 million tons this year, Tasnim quoted Ebrahim Mohammadi, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI), as saying on Monday.

He also said that some 27.5 billion ton-kilometers of cargo was transported via railway in the country during the past year, and the figure is planned to reach 43 billion ton-kilometers this year.

“We have signed four memorandums of understandings with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) for the promotion of railway transportation since the beginning of current Iranian calendar year,” the official noted. 

RAI director Saeid Mohammadzadeh said in January that railway should account for 30 percent of freight transportation in Iran by the end of the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2021).

MA/MG