TEHRAN - Iran and Iraq railway officials, during a field visit to the Shalamcheh-Basra railway, met and held talks at Iran’s Arvand Free Zone and agreed on building Shalamcheh border terminal along the Shalamcheh-Basra railway.

According to the agreement, in first phase, the necessary land was handed over to the Islamic Republic of Iran Railway (known as RAI) and it was decided that the contractor should quickly start the executive operations of the border terminal.

Iran and Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the construction of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway in 2012, which was not implemented.

Three years later, another MOU was signed between Tehran and Baghdad for the construction of this railway, according to which, Iran undertook to design and build a bridge over the Arvand River, and the Iraqi side undertook to build a 32-kilometer railway from the Shalamcheh border to the Basra railway station on Iraqi soil.

EF/MA