Railway Bridge North-South Laid

The transcontinental transport project North-South has received yet another confirmation of its implementation in the near future.

The ceremony of laying the railway bridge over the river Astarachay was held on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border on April 20. The bridge with a length of 82 meters will connect the railways of the two countries, the border construction of which is to be completed in 2016-2017.

The Iranian side should be completed in 2017. The construction of the railway Qazvin-Rasht-Astara stretches for 350 km. The work is in the final stage.

The transport corridor will connect the existing railways of Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, with access to the Persian Gulf and India.

The final decision about the connection of the railways of Azerbaijan and Iran was taken after reaching an agreement on the bilateral issues between the United States and Iran in the past year.

The project has been in the stage of solutions for over twenty years.

President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree On the Acceleration of the Work on the Segment of the International Transport Corridor North-South, Passing through the Territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan on December 7.

The agreement on development of the North-South international transport corridor was signed on 12 September 2000 in St. Petersburg between the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran and India.

According to preliminary estimates, the capacity of the railway corridor will be 1.4 million passengers and 5-7 million tons of cargo per year, potentially 20 million tons.     -08B--