First Russian train with India-bound cargo arrives in Iran

Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Ghasemi has said that the first Russian India-bound cargo train has reached the territory of Iran via the North-South transit railway.

The train transporting 39 freight containers entered the territory of Iran on July 12, through the Sarkhas railway station on the border with Turkmenistan. The train has covered a distance of about 3,800 kilometres, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on July 12. 

The cargo is now to be delivered to the Persian Gulf port of Shahid Rajaei in the south of Iran, to be later shipped to India by sea.

"Thanks to good agreements and contracts, signed with countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and the accessibility of this route for deliveries of Russian goods to countries like Lindia, the train will keep moving along this route," Rostam Ghasemi said.

Iran, India and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement on the creation of a multi-mode North-South transport corridor in 2000. Later, the number of participants increased to 14. The goal of the project is to encourage the transit of cargo flows from India, Iran and the Persian Gulf countries through the Russian territory to Europe (in comparison with the sea route through the Suez Canal, the distance is more than halved, which reduces the time and cost of transportation).

For the moment, the project combines several various transport systems of individual states. India has invested about $2.1 billion in the project. Part of it was invested in the construction of transport infrastructure in Iran.