TEHRAN – Iranian manufacturers have managed to indigenize the knowledge for the production of over 4,600 rail industry equipment items, an official with the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI) told IRNA.

According to Mohammad-Hadi Ziyaei, RAI also intends to use the capacities and capabilities of domestic manufacturers for indigenizing the knowledge for another 550 items which are currently imported into the country.

In this regard, collaborating with the Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry, RAI has also managed to prevent the imports of locomotives and wagons into the country and has replaced foreign models with domestic ones over the last two years.

Ziyaei noted that his organization has established a website on which the details about the needed parts and equipment items have been presented for domestic knowledge-based companies and manufacturers to make it easier for them to work on.

“In this system, 550 items that are still imported from abroad have been listed and knowledge-based and research companies have been invited to indigenize them,” he said.

By relying on the capabilities and capacities of domestic companies and by providing financial resources for investors in this sector, the production of the railway fleet, including freight and passenger wagons and locomotives, has increased by 84 percent and 20 percent, respectively, over the past two years, the official added.

Iranian railway fleet currently includes a total of 627 locomotives units and over 1,923 passenger, service and self-propelled wagons.

The development of the railway sector is one of the macro policies of the Iranian government as it has been emphasized by the general policies of the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021).

In this regard, the national railway fleet has constantly received new domestically-made locomotives and wagons in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 20, 2020), which is named the year of “Surge in Production” by Leader of Islamic Revolution Seyed Ali Khamenei.

EF/MA