October 07, 2008

Indian Railways may sign MoU with Russia and Iran

It is reported that Indian Railways may sign a MoU with its Russian and Iranian counterparts in May 2008 in Seoul, where the International Union of Railways would have its next meeting.

The details of the MoU are yet to be worked out, though broadly it would promote the north south rail corridor in the Trans Asian Railway network. The corridor envisages connecting Northern Europe to Persian Gulf. There would be further rail cum sea connectivity with India through the Western port ports.

The Indian Railways Chairman, Mr K.C. Jena, who had recently visited Iran in his capacity as the chairman of International Union of Railways said this in media briefing here on Wednesday.

Iranian Railways has also asked its Indian counterpart to cooperate in various areas like training, electrification, rail link and port development projects in Iran. All these projects would primarily encourage rail transportation on TAR network’s north south corridor.

Mr KC Jena chairman of Indian Railways said that "Iran has sought cooperation from Indian Railways towards training its officials in India. We also discussed exchanging teaching staff for the Middle East Railway Academy, to be set up under the aegis of UIC." He added that Iran wants Indian firms to participate in developing the port of Chabahar and constructing a rail link connecting the Chabahar port to Farhaj in Iran.

With this, sea connectivity could be established between the Iranian port and western ports of India, thus bypassing Pakistan. Between Russia and Iran, the connectivity could be through rail via Azerbaijan or rail cum sea