TEHRAN – The Turkmenistan state TV on Thursday announced that the Russian Railways Company will take part in the construction of the North-South Railroad which will connect Russia to Iran via Turkmenistan.

Russia’s Railway Company Director Vladimir Yakunin and Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov have recently held a meeting on the issue in which the Russian official voiced his company’s readiness to take part in the construction of the railway that links Turkmenistan to Iran, IRNA reported.
Turkmenistan formally opened construction on the North-South Railroad from the border with Kazakhstan to Iran, a project seen as an economic boon for the oil- and gas-rich Caspian Sea region.
The 700-kilometer (420-mile) line will improve Turkmenistan’s connections with Russia via Kazakhstan and to the Persian Gulf coast via Iran.
Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan signed a trilateral contract on construction of the railroad in 2007.
The railway has the capacity of transporting 15 million tons of goods per annum.