November 27, 2020
The Islamic Republic has started laying track for a new rail line from the port of Chabahar on the Arabian Sea coast to Zahedan, near the Afghan border.
The line had first been promised a decade ago. It was mainly wanted by India, which needed a link to Afghanistan since Pakistan cuts off its land access to Afghanistan.
Indian Railways Construction Ltd. originally held the contract to build the rail line, but was reportedly dropped by Iran in July for “delays” in providing funding, said to be the result of US sanctions.
However, some said Iran was delaying the project because it doesn’t provide much benefit for Iran. Its main utility is to land-locked Afghanistan and to countries, like India, who want access to Afghanistan. India wants to prevent Afghanistan from becoming dependent on Pakistan, a goal of interest to Iran, not to mention Afghanistan.
Iran reportedly began laying track northward from Chabahar this month and southward from Zahedan in July.
The 628-kilometer (390-mile) track is planned to be completed by Now Ruz in 2022.
To speed up the project, the track-laying operations are being conducted from both ends of the line.
The contractor for the project is now the Khatam-ol Anbiya Construction Headquarters, which is the construction arm of the Pasdaran.
The project may have finally gotten off the ground because the United States recently exempted Chabahar from US sanctions, as the United States also has an interest in seeing Afghanistan have a rail route to the outside world.
