Iran eyes digitalization of rail freight traffic with EEU members on North-South int'l corridor

BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1. Iran hopes for the
digitalization of multilateral railway cooperation and rail freight
traffic between the Eurasian Economic Union member countries within
the framework of the international North-South corridor, Iran's
first vice president Mohammad Reza Aref said on October 1 at a
meeting of high-ranking officials of the Eurasian Economic Union
member countries in Yerevan, Trend reports.
According to him, the Eurasian Economic Union has developed a
roadmap for digitalization of rail freight transportation with
China and Uzbekistan and positive steps have been taken in this
direction.
Aref noted that Iran also wants this example to be applied in
the framework of the North-South international corridor. Iran is
ready for any cooperation in this direction.
Iran's first Vice President noted that if all existing barriers,
including customs duties, border checks, and logistic processes,
are removed in transit cooperation, exchanges between member
countries will either be delayed or become unprofitable if they are
not carried out quickly. Along with building new infrastructure,
strengthening existing infrastructure is important, and countries
should put this on their working agenda.
He added that creating a joint market in the four areas
(products, services, investment, and business) is put forward as
the four main objectives of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Digitization of rail freight transportation can also contribute to
the implementation of the four main goals.



The intergovernmental agreement signed on September 12, 2000,
between Russia, Iran, and India laid the foundation for the
North-South Transport Corridor. In general, a number of countries
have ratified the said agreement. (Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic
of Belarus, Republic of Bulgaria, India, Islamic Republic of Iran,
Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Sultanate of Oman, Russian
Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Türkiye, Ukraine).
The purpose of creating the corridor is to reduce the delivery time
of cargoes from India to Russia, as well as to Northern and Western
Europe (the delivery time on the current route is more than six
weeks; through 'North-South', it is expected to be three
weeks).
In order to connect Azerbaijan Railways with the Iranian
railroad network within the corridor, the Qazvin-Rasht railroad
(175 km) was put into operation on March 6, 2019. The Rasht-Astara
railroad is to be built on the territory of Iran.
The North-South corridor has three directions on the territory
of Iran. Eastern direction-Turkmenistan and Central Asian
countries; Middle direction-Russia and other countries across the
Caspian Sea; Western direction-Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and
Eastern European countries.

• Eurasian Economic Union
• Digitalization
• Rail Freight Traffic
• North-South Corridor