TEHRAN – About 80 percent of Iran’s total rail cargoes consist of minerals, a deputy with the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI) said.

Seyed Mostafa Davoudi made the remarks on the sidelines of a visit to a railway project in central Kerman province on Friday, IRNA reported.

The official underlined the significance of the country’s railway network in the development of other sectors and said the improvement of railway infrastructure is a prerequisite for the development of major industries and mines.

"Large-scale cargo transportation has technical and economic justification only through railways,” he added.

“Currently, the operations for connecting large industrial and mining complexes such as Zarand Steel, Butia Steel, Gol Gohar Sirjan, and Jalalabad Complex to the national railway are underway and some of them have been completed,” Davoudi said.

Connecting the industrial and production centers as well as cargo hubs to the national railway network has become one of the main programs that the Iranian government is pursuing.

According to the Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami, the government is currently taking necessary measures for the expansion of the railway network.

“We have currently 14,000 kilometers of railway throughout the country, 14,000 kilometers are under study and construction, and it is expected that the length of the national railway network will reach 28,000 kilometers by the next five years,” Eslami said on July 14.

Back in July 2019, RAI Head Saeed Rasouli had said that new railway projects were underway for connecting the major cargo hubs in the country to the national railway network in the coming years.

EF/MA