TEHRAN: Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI) Miad Salehi said the Shalamcheh-Basra railway project is progressing at a considerable pace, Mehr news agency reported.
“The construction of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway, which we have been waiting for for more than 40 years, has begun and is currently progressing at a rapid pace,” Salehi wrote on social media on Tuesday.
To speed up construction, Salehi said different parts of the project, particularly mine clearance and bridge construction, will be carried out simultaneously and in parallel.
The railway connection between the southwestern Iranian city of Shalamcheh and the Iraqi city of Basra has been one of the issues that the Iranian and Iraqi governments have been pursuing for many years.
Iran and Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the construction of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway line in the Iranian calendar year 1390 (March 2011-March 2012), but it was not implemented.
In 1393 (2014–2015), another MOU was signed between Tehran and Baghdad for the construction of this railway, according to which Iran committed to designing and building a bridge over the Arvand River and the Iraqi side committed to building a 32-kilometer railway line from the Shalamche border to Basra railway station on Iraqi soil.
The implementation of this project was pursued by the Iranian government and in order to complete the Shalamcheh-Basra railway line, the 17-kilometer Khorramshahr-Shalamcheh railway project was completed in 2011 to connect the Iranian railway with Iraq and it was decided to connect the city of Basra.
However, for various reasons – economic problems and lack of funds in Iraq, as well as legal problems in that country in allocating land to Iran for the construction of the railway – the project was put on hold for ten years.
But since 2021, the governments of both countries have become more serious about the construction of this railway, which represents a strategic event in the West Asia region.
After a long delay, construction of the railway line was finally officially launched in 2023 in a ceremony at the Shalamcheh border crossing attended by former Iranian Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, Transport Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shayya’ Al-Sudani.
In his speech at the ceremony, Iran’s First Vice President said: “Today we have gathered here to witness the start of one of the most important joint projects between Iran and Iraq that will affect the entire region. I express my satisfaction that today, together with the Iraqi Prime Minister, we have started the railway connection between the two countries at this point and developed the railway infrastructure for the expansion of trade and economic cooperation.”
“The nations of Iran and Iraq have very good historical, civilizational and religious relations. But the value of current trade between the two countries is not at the level expected by the parties. On the other hand, the activation of this process will guarantee Iraq full access to Iran’s neighboring countries, including the Caucasus and Central Asia,” the official added.
According to Mokhber, the completion of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway is actually a plan to connect the two shrines. This would provide pilgrims with a direct connection from Atabat Aliyat (the shrines of the Shiite Imams located in four cities in Iraq) to Mashhad (where the shrine of Imam Reza is located) and vice versa.
As reported, the 32-kilometer Shalamcheh-Basra railway line is expected to be operational in 18 months. 16 kilometers of this line will be built in Iran and 16 kilometers in Iraq.
According to Salehi, the freight capacity of this railway is between 8 and 10 million tons and the passenger capacity is 12 million people.
Due to the large amount of goods exported from Iran to Iraq, the issue of transport infrastructure between the two countries is of great importance. According to experts, the construction of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway will significantly increase the revenues of the Iranian railway.
With the construction of this railway line and the completion of the Shalamcheh-Karbala line, Iran will also be connected to Iraq and from there to the port of Latakia in Syria. It is expected that there will be a large amount of cargo traffic from Syria to Iran.
On the other hand, the success of pilgrimages and the growth and development of tourism are other benefits of the completion of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway line, and another advantage of the implementation of this project is the significant reduction in fuel consumption compared to road transport.
EF/MA
