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India, Iran To Restart Chabahar- Zahedan Rail Connectivity Project

  • By Thetripurapost Desk, Tehran
  • Jul 02, 2024
  • 222

India and Iran are planning to speed up the construction of a new railway line between Chabahar port and the city of Zahedan. This railway line will make the strategically important Iranian port of Chabahar a gateway to the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). 

This corridor will provide a major trade route for Central Asian and Eurasian countries located on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea. This also includes Russia, which has just started trading with India through this route to avoid sanctions from Western countries. 

With the construction of this corridor, Afghanistan will also have direct contact with the Arabian Ocean and its dependence on Pakistan's Karachi Port will end.

Officials from India and Iran have said that work on the new railway line is being accelerated after work on the Chabahar port started. Goods have started being sent to India from here. This year it is believed that this port will handle several million tonnes of cargo. In the first two months of the year itself, several tonnes of goods have been transported through Chabahar port. 

These officials said that due to its strategic location at a very important geopolitical location, Chabahar port can become the gateway to the INSTC corridor. Currently, this Iranian port is connected to the rest of the country through road.

Officials said that Iran is reviewing the current railway network to connect Chabahar and Zahedan. Since the traffic at Chabahar Port is increasing, its connectivity with rail and road is very important so that goods can reach from one place to another easily and quickly. 

That is why talks are going on to extend it. This entire Chabahar-Zahedan railway line will be 700 km long. Even after the agreement between Indian Railways' IRCON and Iran Railway Construction in the year 2016, no work has been able to progress on this railway line.

India has invested millions of dollars in the development of Chabahar Port. India has recently installed cranes there so that containers can be easily loaded and unloaded. India is pushing Chabahar to compete with China and Pakistan's Gwadar Port. 

This has given India direct access to Afghanistan and Russia. After India, the Taliban government has also announced that it is going to invest near Chabahar Port. After the construction of this railway line, goods will be able to be transported faster