The contract was awarded by the Iranian state-run Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Co.
Managing Director Massud Rahnama said, “We signed a 130 trillion rial contract to build more than 5,300 kilometers of railway lines.” He also said the two nations would share construction technology and build related factories.
The announcement follows comments by then Iranian Transportation Minister Hamid Behbahani in January that nearly 5,000 kilometers or about 3,100 miles of railway are currently being built in Iran.
The eight initial railroad lines of the Iran-China contract will cover these routes: Tehran-Mashhad (565 miles); Tehran-Qom-Esfahan (256 miles); Qazvin-Rasht-Anzali-Astara (231 miles); Arak-Kermanshah-Khosravi (356 miles); Chabahar-Zahedan-Mashhad (838 miles); Gorgan-Bojnourd-Mashhad (404 miles); Tehran-Hamedan-Sanandaj (255 miles); and Sari-Rasht (229 miles).
The announcement specifically described the deal as a “contract,” though Iranian agencies often sign memoranda of understanding outlining grand projects that never actually materialize in contract form. If this is a contract, at $13 billion it is immense.
The announcement failed to say where the $13 billion in capital was coming from. It also did not name the Chinese signatories who will do the construction.
