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Iran and Russia have signed an €1.2 billion ($1.27 billion) to electrify a train line, linking north-central Iran to the northeastern border with Turkmenistan, according to a report.
The agreement signed between Russian Railways and Iran Railways (RAI) aims at constructing power stations and overhead power lines along the Garmsar-Sari-Gorgan-Inche Burun route in Iran, said the Press TV report.
“The implementation of the contract will improve the capacity of passenger trains and raise transit to eight million tonnes,” Mohsen Poursaeed-Aqaei, RAI's managing director, was quoted as saying.
The train line will extend to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and links the Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and beyond, said the report.
The project will be financed by the Russian government and will be implemented in 36 months, which will include manufacturing all electric locomotives inside Iran, electrifying 495 km of railway and building 32 stations and 95 tunnels.
“With the implementation of this contract, besides the electrification of the line, tunnels on the way will be enlarged, enabling Russian and other transit wagons to ply conveniently on it,” Poursaeed-Aqaei was quoted as saying.