TEHRAN- Some 213 new domestically-made locomotives and wagons were added to the railway fleet of Iran in a ceremony on Tuesday, IRIB reported.

During the ceremony, Saied Rasouli, the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI), said that the number of domestically produced locomotives and wagons has increased by 58 percent, adding that according to a memorandum signed last year with the Budget and Planning Organization (BPO), by the end of the next Iranian calendar year (March 2021) another 974 locomotives will be added to the country’s rail fleet.

According to the official, a total of 1791 locomotives and wagons worth 20 trillion rials (about $476.2 million) are planned to be added to the county’s railway fleet.

“By the end of the current Iranian year [March 19, 2020], 37 passenger wagons, 30 locomotives and 217 freight wagons will be added to the rail network,” Rasouli added.

The official noted that currently the average age of the country’s passenger and freight wagons stands at 24 years, and the number will decrease significantly when the new wagons join the fleet.

Back in June, Rasouli had announced that 20 trillion rials (about $476.2 million) has been allocated for renovation of 1000 passenger and freight wagons and also locomotives in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21).

He said this amount has been allocated by the Planning and Budget Organization.

In this year, which is named as the year of "Pickup in Production" by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, all efforts of RAI are for renovating the railway fleet of the country by relying on domestic producers, the official further stressed.

According to Saeed Mohammadzadeh, the previous head of RAI, development of Iranian railways requires more than 32,000 wagons and locomotives in the next four years when the railway infrastructures are developed in the country.

EF/MA