Page 62 - IRANRptOct22

Iran, Afghanistan ‘ambitious to connect Khaf-Herat railway to China via Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
big aim of the corridor is to provide Russia with substantial import-export trade access to the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman (Indian Ocean) via Iran, while also allowing it to develop trade links with Iran’s Arab neighbours to the west. INSTC has been under discussion for years, with little tangible progress in realising the project, but it has taken on a new lease of life given how Western countries have cut off access to Russian hauliers following the invasion of Ukraine. The Iran route now provides Moscow with increasingly vital options when it comes to trade with India and other points east.
The Russian freight train is reportedly pulling 39 containers with building materials for India. It departed from Chekhov station in the Moscow region before covering 3,800 kilometres to reach Sarakhs.
Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Qassemi said the locomotive would move on to the port of Shahid-Rajei in the province of Hormozgan in southern Iran. From there, the containers with cargo will go to India by sea.
"Thanks to good agreements and contracts concluded with countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, as well as the availability of this route for the delivery of Russian goods to countries such as India, the train will continue to travel along this route," Qassemi said.
INSTC backers point to how the corridor offers shorter routes than alternatives that go via the Suez Canal.
Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has assigned 300 containers to transport goods on the Russia-India-via-Iran route, Mehr News Agency reported on July 11.
Iran and Afghanistan have plans to connect the emerging Khaf (Iran)-Herat (Afghanistan) railway to China, Iranian press have reported Iran’s Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister Abbas Khatibi as stating.
Though project approval has not yet been obtained from either Tehran or Kabul, officials envisage delivering Iran-Afghanistan-China rail connectivity via a route east that would exit Afghanistan on the border with Tajikistan. From there, the route would continue east to Kyrgyzstan before entering China through the valleys of the Tian Shan mountain range. A likely terminus in China would purportedly be Kashgar, an oasis city in Southern Xinjiang, with existing spurs heading north to Urumqi and connecting to China’s high-speed national rail network and through west to Kazakhstan.
The Khaf-Herat railway was in December 2020 inaugurated as the first cross-border railway link between Iran and Afghanistan. However, an 85-km stretch in Afghanistan running from Ghurian to Herat is still to be completed.
62 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com