TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani officially started a project, worth $2 billion, on Saturday to electrify the 926km railroad linking Tehran to the northeastern shrine city of Mashhad.

The project, which is scheduled to be implemented over the course of 42 months, offers substantially better energy efficiency and lower emissions. It will also shorten travel time between Tehran and Mashhad to six hours from the current minimum of 12 hours.

Meanwhile, the signaling and smart monitoring system along the Mashhad-Tehran railway came on stream, aiming to direct railway traffic. This has the advantage of increasing track capacity by allowing trains to run closer together while maintaining the required safety margins.

The project has been implemented fully by Iranian companies at a cost of 32 million euros over the course of 3 years, meeting international standards.

Rouhani also inaugurated phase 3 of the Mashhad subway. Coming online with a whopping amount of 2.3 trillion rials (approximately $64 million), two stations have been built along the 4.5-kiolmeter-long line.

Financial issues related to the project are no longer a concern as with the recent visit to Iran of President Xi Jinping of China, the two sides tasked a consortium of Iranian and Chinese partners to embark on the project.