Tehran, March 2, 2024 (MRUD NEWS)—Following the visit of Igor Levitin, the aide to the President of the Russian Federation, and his delegation to Tehran to discuss the promotion of transit along the INSCT and acceleration of Rasht-Astara Railway Project, Miad Salehi, Deputy Minister and CEO of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways met with Sergey Pavlov, First Deputy Head of Russian Railways.
In the visit, Salehi said: "we agree to modify the tariff rate and unify it for all 4 countries of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran for transporting coal, grain, fertilizer, iron and petroleum products".
Salehi stated that we are trying to minimize the delay in cargo transit in Bandar Abbas or Sarakhs and added: "Although with the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, Russian freights usually transit from Sarakhs to Bandar Abbas in 3 to 5 days, reducing this time is still very important to us. Therefore, we agreed with the governor of Hormozgan Province to provide necessary infrastructures in Bandar Abbas to reduce train stop time".
Freight transit through Russia-Iran rail route will be attractive with minimizing the time and modifying the tariffs for which Iran is ready to act, the CEO of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways mentioned.
In order to maximize the speed of rail freight through the Russia-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan-Iran route, we have taken several measures, such as setting priority for freight transits coming from Sarakhs, creating infrastructures in Bandar Abbas, pursuing reduction of customs formalities for Russian freights in Bandar Abbas and Sarakhs. Also, double-tracking the Sarkhs-Bafq route to increase the capacity and speed of cargo on the Sarkhs-Bafq-Bandar Abbas route is one of the important measures in the agenda of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, explained Salehi.
In this meeting, the Deputy Minister of Russian Railways, Sergey Pavlov, appreciated the cooperation between the railways of the two countries in the last two years and the significant growth of Russian rail freight transit and said: "I agree with the issues raised because it will improve performance for both sides and increase the speed and tonnage of the freight transit".
The Russian Deputy Minister of Transport in the visit with his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Hadianfar, on Wednesday said: "in 2023, we reached freight transit to 600,000 tons through Iran's territory which is a fourfold increase". Further he said: "It is aimed to increase the freight transit along the INSTC via Iran to 4 million tons per year in 2024".
The transport relations between Iran and Russia have been rising. This is evident in the transit records through Iran's territory according to the reports of the President of Russian Railways. As per this report, the records of transit increased by 30 percent and the time of freight transit has decreased from 49 to 20 days from Russia to Bandar Abbas.
Additionally, as per the agreement with Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, rail freight transit through Iran's territory lasts between 3 to 5 days from Sarakhs Border to Bandar Abbas.