Iranians Can Charter Cargo Wagons From Cenral Asian States

May 14, 2002 - 0:0
MASHHAD -- Iranian traders would get the license to charter or purchase cargo wagons from the Central Asian republics, said the director general of provincial branch of the state railway organization Mohammad-Ali Hojjatinejad.

Hojjatinejad told IRNA on the threshold of the anniversary of the establishment of Mashhad- Sarakhs-Tajan railway track that Iran's State Railway Company would give the license for purchase and charter of cargo wagons from the Central Asian republics.

The Mashhad-Sarakhs-Tajan intercontinental railway track was inaugurated on May 13, 1996, in the presence of the presidents of Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Afghanistan.

The source said Iran's State Railway Company is ready to allow traffic through the railway network and offer locomotives to the non-governmental sector for cargo transportation.

The Sarakhs-Mashhad railway track, which extends on an area of 164 kilometers, serves as a link between the Central Asian republics and the Persian Gulf free waters, said Hojjatinejad, adding that last year, 1,699,000 tons of goods were transited from Central Asian republics to Bandar Abbas (Hormozgan Province) via Sarakhs railway axis.

Hojjatinejad said transportation of the transit goods via Sarakhs railway track last year showed a growth of 125 percent compared to the figure in the preceding year.

Three million tons of cargoes are daily offloaded on Saraksh border point, added the official.

He said the majority of goods imported via Sarakhs were wheat, iron wares, fertilizers, oats and fodder.

He added that detergents, cements, machine-made carpets, moquettes, shoes, tiles and ceramics are the goods that are exported through the railway track.

The official said cotton, liquid natural gas (LNG), mazote, gasoil and gasoline are the major goods transited via Sarakhs railway network.

He concluded that in near future Almaty-Tehran passenger train service will be inaugurated. The train has started tentative operation since March, he added.