TEHRAN - Head of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI) said 56 railway infrastructure and service projects were inaugurated across the country on Sunday, on the occasion of the “Ten-Day Dawn” which marks the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Speaking in an inauguration ceremony in Tehran, Saeed Rasouli said the mentioned projects were carried out with the aim of increasing the safety and speed of the country’s railway transportation.

According to the official, with a total investment of six trillion rials (over $142.8 million), the said projects were in various fields including communications and electronic signaling, double tracking, as well as sub-lines, and the reconstruction and repairing of old rail lines in some blocks.

“Due to the overuse of some rail routes, the speed of trains has decreased and it was necessary to rebuild the trains; double-tracking is also aimed at increasing the capacity of the trains and higher efficiency of the country's rail network,” Rasouli said.

Expanded transportation via railway is, today, one of the major pillars of sustainable development for the countries; and it is why the governments usually allocate noticeable funds and resources to the development of the railway.

In Iran, the development of railway has been among the top-priority plans of the governments in recent years.

The country’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021) has envisaged that the railway will account for at least 30 percent of cargo transportation and 20 percent of passenger transportation in Iran. Such a target requires at least 850 trillion rials (about $20.238 billion) of investment.

EF/MA