TEHRAN – Iran’s Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO) has signed a deal with Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters for manufacturing 5,000 tons of rail tracks to be used by Khatam-al Anbiya in a railway project.

The agreement was signed in a ceremony attended by Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami, Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani, and Khatam-al Anbiya Chief Saeed Mohammad at Tehran Mosalla, Shata reported on Saturday.

As reported, the mentioned rail tracks are going to be used in the construction of a railway which connects Chabahar Port to Zahedan City (both in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan).

According to Eslami, the Chabahar-Zahedan railway project requires at least 50,000 tons of rail tracks, 5000 of which is going to be supplied under this deal.

The deal was signed on the sidelines of a conference on the country’s capacities and capabilities in engineering and technical sectors, in which a memorandum of understanding was also signed between Khatam-al Anbiya and the ministries of transport and industry for cooperation in promoting domestic production.

Back in September 2019, Eslami had announced that Iran will become a major rail track producer in the region in near future.

Mentioning the hand-over of the first domestically-manufactured rail tracks (known as National Rail) to Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI), Eslami said moving toward self-sufficiency in this sector is a must and delivery of the first cargo of the National Rail has been a big achievement in this regard.

In November 2016, ESCO signed a contract with RAI to produce 40,000 tons of U33 rails, and consequently launched its rail production line with €28.2 million plus 573 billion rials (about $13.6 million) of investment.

Iran’s sixth five-year economic development plan (2016-21) stresses, among other things, the need to develop the rail transport network.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways says Iran needs an average of 300,000-400,000 tons of rails per year to meet the needs of this key transport sector.

EF/MA