Iran, China Ink MoU to Electrify Tehran-Mashhad Railway

Iran and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on electrification of Tehran-Mashhad railway system, AVA Diplomatic reports.

The 1.5-billion-dollar financing contract for electrification of Tehran-Mashhad railroad was inked at presence of vice president of China Exim Bank (Export-Import Banks of China), Ambassador of China to Tehran Pang Sen, Deputy Iranian Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Road and Urban Development Asghar Fakhrieh Kashani, Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways Saeed Mohammadzadeh, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) for Foreign Exchange Affairs Gholamali Kamyab as well as Chairman of Board of Directors and Managing Director of Bank of Industry and Mine Ali-Ashraf Afkhami.

The agreement marks the first financing contract to have been signed in the past one and a half years in Iran.

Tehran-Mashhad, the most frequented railway line of Iran and one of the few double-track lines of the country, with 926Km of length and 50 stations starts from Tehran, and ends in Mashhad in northeastern of Iran after passing through the major cities of Garmsar, Semnan, Damghan, Shahroud, and Neishabour.

Currently, the highest possible speed on this route is 160 Km/h which will be increased to 200 km/h after the electrification project is completed. Based on predictions, the railway will carry annually 33 million passengers and 10 million tons of freight by 2032. This load of passenger and freight will put the Tehran-Mashhad railway into the list of top ten most commuted railway lines in the world.