Iran-Turkmenistan- Kazakhstan Railroad to Be Launched by Year End
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railroad will become operational by the end of this year, a Turkmen diplomat said.
Maktymguly Akmuradov, Turkmenistan’s ambassador to Kazakhstan said the railroad is planned to be launched before the end of 2014.
“Terms are being specified, but presumably, the opening will take place in the period between the Independence Day of Turkmenistan (October 27) and Independence Day of Kazakhstan (December 16),” the Trend news agency quoted him as saying at a press conference in Astana Thursday.
Akmuradov added that a meeting between the leaders of the three countries should take place within the framework of this event.
The railroad, which is part of the North-South Transnational Corridor, will initially transport between three and five million tons of cargo per year, according to the tentative estimates.
The cargo transportation volume is expected to increase to 10-15 million tons per year by 2020.
The North-South Transnational Corridor is a 677 km-long railroad line connecting the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan with Iran and the Persian Gulf.
