TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday inaugurated some major railway and freeway projects worth 109.1 trillion rials (about $2.597 billion) in seven provinces through video conferencing, IRNA reported.

The mentioned projects were inaugurated in Zanjan, Yazd, Fars, Qazvin, Isfahan, Alborz, and Mazandaran provinces in the 86th series of inauguration ceremonies since the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the projects, Saeed Rasouli, the managing director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI), said, “Improving safety, increasing passenger and cargo transportation and reducing travel time are important achievements of today's inaugurated projects.”

The first inauguration was the Yazd-Eqlid railway line, which shortened the Shiraz-Mashhad railway route by about 320 km, which is four hours shorter.

The other inaugurated project was the double-tracking of Zanjan-Qazvin railway.

A part of the Bafq-Zarrinshahr second railway project, 120 km long, between the Sistan railway station and the Abnil railway station, was another inauguration.

Alborz Tunnel, as the longest tunnel in the West Asia region with a length of 6.5 km, was opened on a trial basis at the end of the second section of Tehran-North freeway with a video message from the president.

Since the beginning of the current year, every week several industrial, development, infrastructure, production, and agricultural projects have gone operational in various provinces.

MA/MA