TEHRAN - During a meeting of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA)’s Transport and Logistics Committee on Saturday, the members of the committee stressed the need for establishing a regulatory body in the country’s railway industry, the ICCIMA portal reported.

The attendees of the mentioned meeting emphasized that necessary provisions should be made in the Seventh Five-year National Development Plan for the operation of a regulatory body in the railway industry and the private sector should also be able to have a stronger role in the industry.

Speaking at the meeting, Ali Hosseini, the head of the ICCIMA Transport and Logistics Committee enumerated some of the challenges and problems of the country’s transportation industry and said: “The transportation industry is one of the industries that operate in direct connection with all economic sectors and the conditions governing it have significant effects on the market. Therefore, paying attention to the needs of this industry should be the priority in defining the country's economic and legislative programs.”

He further pointed to some of the issues of the railway industry, saying: “There is not enough productivity in this industry. We have problems in railway management and our approach in this field is uneconomical. Due to the low speed of rail transportation and the lack of efficiency, a regulatory body should be established. If we want to reach the transit goals of 30 to 50 million tons per year, the rail industry must be developed.”

EF/MA