TEHRAN - Iran put into operation its third mega rail project that connects the northern city of Rasht to the Anzali Free Trade and Industry Zone on the Caspian Sea shore on Thursday.

The opening ceremony of the major railway project was attended by Acting President Mohammad Mokhber and Minister of Transport and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash.

The new railway line will allow direct freight transport from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf via the country’s existing railway network.

Khairullah Khademi, CEO of the company specializing in the construction and development of the Iran’s transportation infrastructure said that this rail route is the last section of the North-South Sea Corridor.

The load-carrying capacity of this rail line is a maximum of seven million tons, and its passenger-carrying capacity is 600,000 people, Khademi added.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony Bazrpash said the transit of goods from the country increased 55 percent in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March-May 2024) compared to the same period last year.

The minister added that the administration of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made round-the-clock efforts for the completion of the Rasht-Caspian Rail project.

He further pointed to the economic opportunities of Iran in the region and world and said the administration of the late President Raisi enhanced Iran’s diplomacy in the region and the world considerably.

He went on to say that 5.5 million tons of goods were transited via Iranian land and territory in the first three months of the current year, expandable to 20 million tons of transit of goods by the end of the current year (to end March 20, 2025), IRNA reported.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Bazrpash pointed to the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and added that the corridor is not merely a rail route but it creates opportunities, development of the maritime economy, facilitation of transit, and also improvement of infrastructures.

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