TEHRAN (PIN) -- Iran and Germany have signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct feasibility studies on transrapid high-speed magnetic train link between Tehran and the northeastern city of Mashhad in Khorassan Razavi Province, said a senior official with Road and Transportation Ministry.

The MOU was signed between Iran’s Road Ministry and Germany’s Schlegel engineering firm to assess possibilities of developing the high-speed rail link to ferry up to 20 million pilgrims a year along a 900km route between Tehran and Mashhad, Hamid Behbahani stated. He added that the deal was reached between two sides during a recent visit by an Iranian delegation to Germany. The official noted that members of the Iranian team have obtained useful information on the record-breaking train, which “floats” on a monorail as a result of a magnetic levitation (maglev) system after touring companies which supply technology for the transrapid. He said that the entire project will be implemented in three phases of feasibility studies, phase one and two studies, and finally construction of the route. If the project goes ahead, Iran will become the second country after China to have the high-speed train, which can attain speeds of 500 km/h in the first three kilometers. Behbahani predicted that feasibility studies will be over in 1.5 to two years while construction time is estimated between three and four years. He expressed hope that feasibility studies to determine whether a transrapid track can be built along the proposed route would begin in the first half of the year to March 2008 (March-September 2007). Iran had earmarked $1.5 billion startup capital for the project and hoped to find co-investors. The idea was first discussed three years ago during a visit to Tehran by Otto Wiesheu, the then Bavarian economics minister, who is currently on the board of Germany’s Deutsche Bahn rail network