Regional Policy Dialogue on Strengthening Transport Connectivity in Southern and Central Asia 7-8 February 2018 United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok Railways of Iran (RAI) International Affairs By: Ali Abdollahi Y. Malekan Iran & UNESCAP Main Agreements : 1- TRANS Asian Railways (TAR) 2- Asian Highway Network (AH) 3- Dry Ports ASIAN I.R.I.’s share from Asian Highways Network is HIGHWAYS approximately 11,000 kilometers NETWORK I.R.IRAN Map no.4 Regionsin Intergovernmental Agreement Regions requested for building and developing dry ports (ESCAP) province Region Aslan Duz Tehran Imam-Khomeini Airport Aras SarakhsSpecial Khorasan Economic Zone Shahid Motahari Astara Khorasan Sahlan Station SalafcheganSpecial Inche Sarakhs Qom Special Economic Zone Boroun Economic Zone Khuzestan ArvandFreeZone SahlanSpecial Economic East Azerbaijan Buin Shahroud Zone Motahari Zahra SirjanSpecial Economic Kerman Aprin Zone ShahidDastgheib Imam-Khomeini Airport Garmsar Fars (Shiraz) International Hamedan Airport Sistan and Salafchegan ZahedanSupport Center Kermanshah Baluchestan Requests from other provinces Kashan Province Region Ardestan Tehran Aprin Isfahan SistanStation Nain Sistan Isfahan Nain Andimeshk Pishgaman Isfahan Ardestan Isfahan Kashan Arvand Yazd (Mehriz) Pishgaman Pol-e Fars Pol-e Fasa Fasa Semnan Shahroud Shiraz Sirjan Zahedan Airport Semnan Garmsar East Azerbaijan Aras Free Zone Kermanshah Kermanshah Golestan InchehBoroun Lorestan Andimeshk Hamedan JahanAbad Qazvin BuinZahra Gilan Astara Ardabil AslanDuz ➢ At present, Iran has 11,000km railway lines; ➢ Under construction lines: 6500 km ➢ Our program is to increase the present annual transport of : ➢ 27 million passengers to around 40 million passengers ➢ 41 million tons of freight to 92 million tons until the end of 2020; ➢Railway share in freight transport: 12% ➢Railway share in passenger transport: 8% International Transport of Iranian Railways Presently, Iranian Railways carries annually: ➢ 12 million tons of international transport out of which ➢ 7.5 million is related to the export by rail, ➢ 3 million tons to import by rail ➢ 1/5 tons to transit; This amount will increase to 25 million tons in the vision of 2020. Strategic Goals of the Railways of I.R.Iran ➢1- Plan to increase railway share in freight transport: from current 12% to 30% (195 Million Tons/ year by 2021); ➢2- Plan to increase railway share in passenger transport : from -10% to 20% ( 103 Million passengers/ year by 2021); ➢3- Offering competitive advantages to increase transit via rail network of Iran and achieving 40% share in transit market. International Railway Organizations Iranian Railways (RAI) is a member of them ❖ RAI is a member of six legal and specialized International Rail Organizations as below: 1- International Union of Railways (UIC) 2- Organization for Co-operation between Railways (OSJD) 3- Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) 4-nternational Rail Transport Committee (CIT) 5-Council for Rail Transport of Community of Independent States (CRT CIS) 6- TEA Iranian Railways is cooperating closely with the Transport Section of the Regional and International Organizations 1- Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) 2- United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific 3- United Nation Economic Commission for Europe Corridors passing through Iran ongoing policies and projects if Iranian Railways (RAI) to facilitate cross-border road and rail transport for ease of trade in goods Linking of Iran’s Railway Network to the Neighboring Countries’ Railway Networks Jolfa Razi Astara Incheh Boroun Lotf Port of Abad Amirabad Sarakhs Khosravi Shamtigh Shalamcheh Khorramshahr Port Imam Mirjaveh Khomeini Port Bandar Abbas Chabahar Port Iran rail connection with other neighboring networks ▪ Sarakhs and Inche Brun border with Turkmenistan and CIS ▪ Jolfa border and rail connection with Azerbaijan (Nakhjavan) ▪ Razai border with Turkey and connection to Europe ▪ Mirjaveh border and rail connection with Pakistan and Indian subcontinent ▪ Imam Port and connection with int’l warters ▪ Bandar Abbas and connection with int’l waters ▪ Amirabad and connection with Caspian Sea ▪ Rail connection with Iraq and Afghanistan Sarakhs Railway Station Border with Turkmenistan Station Specifications Geographical Position of Sarakhs Station ➢ 10km to Sarakhs city ➢ 7km to the airport of Sarakhs ➢ 1km to main road ➢ 14km to the customs of the border terminal ➢ 5km to international border ➢ Located in neighborhood of Sarakhs Special Economical Zone ➢ Presence of all needed organizations(customs,quarantine,standard,bank, etc. Potentials of the Sarakhs Station ❖ Sarakhs station which is the biggest rail border station of Iran is just 10km away from Sarakhs city. ❖ It is actually the connecting bridge of between railway of Europe and CIS countries. ❖ This station is so vast which is divided into three sets of lines(A,B,C) and is composed of 49 standard gauge lines and 15 broad gauge lines and bogie change line and a place to keep bogies. ❖ Technical and service utilities: ✓ Bogie repair, ✓ Locomotive repair, ✓ Draisine workshop, ✓ Inspection center, ✓ Monitoring and Traffic control, ✓ Bogie change, ✓ Crane, ✓ Track supervising, ✓ Computer site, ✓ Building and installations, ✓ Fire fighting, ✓ Fuel reservoir, ✓ Depot, ✓ Customs, ✓ Exchange section, ✓ Transit services hall, 33 District, Atomic energy, Security, Police Station, Hygiene, etc. Station specifications Drawing of The Station Recent Actions taken in Sarakhs Station for Expediting Wagon Exchanges and Transport Facilitation with CIS countreis ➢ Increasing the capacity of Bogie Exchange from 100 Wagnos to 400 Wagons daily (24 hours) ➢ Developing acceptance and dispatching lines as well as parking lines and also broad guage and normal lines from 25 kilometers to 75 kilometers ➢ Performing Rail exchange operation in24 hours and increasing the capacity of wagon exchange with Turkmenistan Railways from 300 wagons to at least 600 wagons in 24 hours ➢ Concluding MOU with Turkmenistan for the movement of wagons of Iran in the rail network of Turkmenistan ➢ Constructing and launching the depot of Bogie and wagon axle repairs in Sarakhs ➢ Establishing Signaling systems of Sarakhs Railway route ➢ Offering discounts for carrying cargoes from 15 to 50% for transit cargoes for attracting the cargoes towards rail ➢ Mechanalizing international rail transport operation and following up connection with customs system in order to facilitate and expedite in performing cutoms formalities of the wagons ➢ Decreasing the transit time of international cargoes from Sarakhs to Bansar Abbas from one week to 53 hours Geographic Position of Arakhs Railway Station Developing the present rail lines with the aim of separating the transit route of Sarakhs- Bandar Abbas from the rail route of Tehran-Mashhad ➢ Constructing the third line of Fariman to Kashmar with the length of 60 kilometers ➢ Plan to Construct the third line of Salam-Fariman as well as making the route of Mashhad to Salam in 4 lines Inche-Borun Railway Station with Turkmensitan Actions to Increase the Capacity Of Inche-Borun Staion and improving Border-Crossing ➢ Establishing Inche-Borun dry port as the largest multimodal transportation terminal and freight & goods transit site in the north of the country (at the land allocation stage) ➢ Constructing the silo of grain in Gorgan railway station with the capacity of 6000 tons ➢ Construction of the Bogie exchange site at Inche- Borun Station , Increasing the capacity of the station by constructing the lines of 8،9 and 10 ➢ lines at the Inche Borun station. ➢ Construction of the broad gauge rail line of Inche- Borun station including 4 tracks with the length of 3200 meters. ➢ Development of the infrastructures of Inche- Borun station with the construction of 4120 meters of Stations tracks in Inche Borun ➢ Construction of the Iron Ore and Clinker loading yard at Inche Borun Station ➢ Construction of a rail weighing system at Inche Borun terminal and cabling Trains from China to Iran from Inche-Borun Station ❖ So far 6 container trains from China to Iran Have come through Inche-Borun Station ❖ In 2016, there was also transit of some fruits from Pakistan to Kazakhstan in refrigerator wagons through this route. Iran-Turkey Rail Border Razi Station ❖ Razi station has a key role in transport and transit between European Countries and also CIS countries and vice-verse. ❖ It is on the route of ECO Istanbul-Tehran-Almaty, Istanbul- Tehran-Islam Abad (ITI) trains ❖ It has four accepting and dispatching liners and it is under RC Signaling Cover ❖ Almost all of the covered, short-sided and flat wagons are running on these lines. ❖ The capacities of these lines are almost 120 wagons Measures are Taken in Razi Station to Facilitate Border-Crossing ➢ Customs organization has recently mandated that all customs affairs of the wagon should be in Razi border. ➢ The information of the B/L of wagons ready to be dispatched to Iran is sent to Razi station one day before and the information are announced to the shippers and their representatives. ➢ Recently Iranian Railways has provided two administrative buildings for Customs and also a building for Police for their staying in the station in order to help to expedite the works and procedures ➢ Negotiations and measures are taken to bring and deploy other organizations and institutes such as standard and Quarantine to expedite the issues. ➢ Information exchange through web service is under way. A meeting between the IT