Iran, Turkmenistan agree to launch passenger train services
Iran and Turkmenistan have agreed to launch the first passenger train service between the two countries amid Iran’s efforts to boost its economic and trade relations with Central Asian countries.
Iran’s transport minister Farzaneh Sadegh said on Monday after a trip to Turkmenistan that she had reached initial agreements with Turkmen authorities for the pilot launch of a passenger train service between Iran’s northeastern city of Mashhad and the Turkmen city of Merv.
Sadegh said that the train services could also facilitate the access of Iranian passengers to Uzbekistan once it becomes fully operational.
The minister said that Iran and Turkmenistan had also agreed to double the size of cargo transferred via the railways connecting the two countries.
The remarks came more than a month after the CEO of Iran’s state rail company visited the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat to discuss plans to expand railway transit between the two neighbors.
During the visit, Jabbar Ali Zakeri and his Turkmen counterpart Azat Atamuradov agreed to increase the annual volume of cargo transit between the two countries to 10 million metric tons until the end of 2027.
Iran’s plans to expand its railway cooperation with Turkmenistan are in line with its efforts to gain more revenues from increasing cargo transport between regional countries.
Iran is planning to open a new railway connection to Turkmenistan via its Lotfabad border crossing while Turkmenistan has announced it would soon add two new rail tracks to the existing facilities in Sarakhs border crossing to be able to process increased volumes of cargo to and from Iran.
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