Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The experts’ attention is focused on the measures taken by the Iranian leadership to develop transport and communication routes as part of the implementation of the North-South international transport corridor. 

Tehran places particular emphasis on the construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan and Haf-Herat railways, which will allow it to enter promising markets in Central Asia, the CIS and Europe through the territory of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

According to Iranian President H. Rouhani, after the completion of the construction of these railway lines, the North-South corridor will become a reality and create huge opportunities for transit traffic.

I. In this context, as reported by the Iranian media, on 13 November, a ceremony dedicated to the start of construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway was held. According to Iranian sources, the launch of the railway is scheduled for March 2022.

The length of the railway is 628 km. The cost is US$950 million. The railway will connect the port of Shahid Beheshti (Chabahar) in the Gulf of Oman with Zahedan in the provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan. In the future, the railway will be extended to the city of Sarakhs on the border with Turkmenistan, which will provide Iran with a direct railway connection with Central Asia.

As observers from the Iranian Mehr News agency noted, by June 2021, it is planned to open 3 sections of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway: 

1) Khash-Zahedan (February); 

2) Chabahar-Iranshahr (March);

3) Iranshahr-Khash (June). 

The Iranian government also plans to increase the capacity of the port of Chabahar from 2.5 million to 8.5 million tonnes.

According to experts, the construction and launch of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway will allow: a) to expand the transportation of goods from the CIS countries to Iran; b) to intensify the economic cooperation of Iran with the countries of Central Asia.

At the same time, with the launch of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway, it is possible to connect the Chabahar port with the Caspian transport system. For this, experts point out, the Iranian side needs to complete the construction of the Mashhad-Zahedan railway, the construction of which began in December 2017.

II. Earlier on 6 October, Deputy Minister of Transport and Urban Development of Iran H. Khademi said that the construction of the Haf - Herat railway will be completed within 3 months.

The Haf-Herat railway (190-225 km) is part of the Iran-Afghanistan railway corridor. The project began in 2008.

Construction of the Haf - Herat railway section will allow: 1) to expand trade between the two countries and the states of Central Asia; 2) reduce transit costs and speed up the collection and delivery of goods; 3) Afghanistan will be able to join the European railway network through the territory of Iran and Turkey.

In addition, the Ministry of Transport of Afghanistan expects that after the launch of this section for the first time in 5 years, the volume of freight traffic by rail will amount to 6.5 million tonnes, and the annual income of Kabul from the project will be US$64 million. 

In this context, the Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan said that a new customs terminal will be built on this section of the railway, which will facilitate the implementation of import and export operations between Iran and Afghanistan.

It is also noteworthy that, according to Kazakh media reports, since 2019, Nur-Sultan has been actively involved in the implementation of this project. Thus, the Afghanistan Railways Administration signed an agreement with the Kazakhstani company Inkon-KZ for the construction of 43 km of this section of the railway. It is noted that the Kazakh side will carry out the construction of a road passing through the counties of Goryan, Zenda Djan and Injil and adjacent to the district of Rabat Paryan (the Kazakh side has allocated US$58.5 million).

According to the statement of the Deputy Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan T. Toktabaev, Nur-Sultan also plans to build several cargo terminals on the territory of Afghanistan, and will also supply 350 thousand tonnes of rails for construction. Experts believe that by such measures the Kazakh side plans, on the one hand, to become an active player in the Afghan direction, on the other, to assist in the integration of Kabul into the economic processes in Central Asia.

In general, the experts emphasize that the launch of the Chabahar-Zahedan and Khaf-Herat railways will contribute, first, to the activation of the North-South transport corridor; secondly, the utilization of the capacities of the port of Chabahar, which, according to official reports, are currently only used by 10%; thirdly, the active connection of the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan to Iranian ports and railways.