Iran's Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Executive Director of the Iranian Railways Company Jabbar Ali Zakeri announced an agreement with Turkmenistan Railways to build two new railway lines between the two countries. This was reported by Iranian media on Tuesday.

The meeting of the heads of transport departments of Turkmenistan and Iran was held on the sidelines of the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Countries in Avaza. Following these talks, an agreement was reached to build two new railway lines between the stations of Serakhs (Turkmenistan) and Sarakhs (Iran).

The new project is aimed at accelerating the passage of goods and increasing the capacity of the border crossing, which is a key hub on the route.

According to the agreements reached, one of the new lines will operate on the standard European gauge (in Iran), and the other on the wide gauge used in Turkmenistan. This will ensure uninterrupted transit of goods, avoiding overloading at the border. Thus, the existing problem of the "bottleneck" at the border crossing will be eliminated, which will significantly reduce waiting time and logistics costs.

"Turkmen Railways" also agreed to replenish the fleet of transportation by 200-300 cars from Uzbekistan. This measure, combined with the expansion of the tracks, will help increase the capacity of export and transit cargo on common routes.

In the near future, the parties will hold meetings of technical experts to finalize the details of the project, determine the timing, cost estimates and financing. It is expected that the successful implementation of the agreement will play an important role in the development of the regional transit corridors "North-South" and "East-West".

ORIENT