Russia and Iran have signed documents giving a Russian company access to land along the entire 162-kilometer, or 101-mile, route of the planned Rasht-Astara railway for engineering surveys.
Russia’s Caspian Services and Iran’s state-owned CDTIC signed the documents in Tehran on Nov. 4, Vesti Baku reported. The package includes a protocol granting access to land along the full route and an additional agreement extending the survey period.
The land plots have been transferred. Russian specialists previously established a geodetic control network and completed aerial photography. Hydrometeorological studies and topographic surveying are continuing.
Final Missing Rail Link
The Rasht-Astara line is intended to close the last railway gap on the western branch of the International North-South Transport Corridor. The route runs through Azerbaijan and is designed to connect Russia with Iran, the Persian Gulf and South Asia.
The project calls for 162 kilometers of track, eight stations, 56 viaducts, 73 bridges and 30 overpasses. Its cost was previously estimated at 1.6 billion euros, or about $1.8 billion at current exchange rates. A Russian loan is expected to provide 1.3 billion euros, or about $1.46 billion, with Iran financing the balance.
Full Construction Has Not Started
The new documents allow preparatory surveys to continue and extend the work until the project’s executive contract takes effect. They do not mean that full construction of the railway has begun.
Russia’s Transport Ministry has called Rasht-Astara the missing infrastructure link on the corridor’s western route and said the completed line is expected to support at least 15 million metric tons of annual freight traffic.