Russia and Iran are finalizing the design of the last component of the International North-South Transport Corridor’s western route – the Rasht-Astara railway.
There are three key elements of this plan that the Iranian side has to work out, Russia’s Minister of Transport Andrey Nikitin told media on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok:
All three aspects are currently being resolved and the Iranian side has confirmed its interest in completing this project, Nikitin remarked.
The minister also suggested that construction may begin by the end of the year.
The International North-South Transport Corridor is a 7,200km long multimodal trade route for moving freight between Europe and Asia.
The route, consisting of railways, sea lanes and roads, runs from Russia to India via Iran and Azerbaijan.
