TEHRAN – Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami inaugurated 105 railway projects worth 14.45 trillion rials (over $344 million) in various provinces through videoconference on Sunday.

Inaugurated on the occasion of the Fajr Ten-Day celebrations (this year from January 31 until February 10), the mentioned projects were put into operation in a variety of areas including infrastructure, railway fleet, services, as well as smartening and data analyzing.

Held at the place of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI) in Tehran, the inauguration ceremony was also attended by the RAI Head Saeed Rasouli.

As reported, 10 of the mentioned projects with a total investment of 3.179 billion rials (about $75.6 million) went operational in Tehran Province.

Construction of intersections, installation of concrete boxes, reconstruction, and improvement of railway lines in Tehran, and Semnan provinces, reconstruction, and commissioning of mechanized railway equipment, marking stations in seven projects in Isfahan, Yazd, and Khorasan provinces, as well as 11 projects in the field of fleet renovation including the purchase of 197 freight wagons, were among the inaugurated projects.

In Iran, the development of the railway industry 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.

Every year during the Fajr Ten-Day celebrations numerous projects are inaugurated across the country in various sectors to mark the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

Like the previous years, this year too billions worth of projects have been inaugurated all over the country over the past few days.

EF/MA

Photo: Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami (L) and RAI Head Saeed Rasouli