Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway reviving Silk Road

Presidential office information deputy has said Troika railroad indicates that sanctions have not been successful in barring countries in using advantages of cooperation with Iran.
Parviz Esmaili detailed about the 920-km railroad, also known as troika, in an interview to Mehr News; “Gorgan-Inche-Boroun railroad connects three countries; it is 908km, with 88km built in Iran, 120km in Turkmenistan, and longer 700km in Kazakhstan, and flanks the east of Caspian Sea, connecting CIS railroad to Persian Gulf and Southeast Asian countries,” he told Mehr News.

He pointed to opening in 1996 of Sarakhs-Tajan railroad by the Islamic Republic of Iran to provide access for Central Asian land-bound countries to Persian Gulf countries and through it to other parts of the world using Iran as the most economical trade route. “The reviving of the Silk Road has been a prudent measure by Islamic Republic of Iran’s officials to bring about economic and political boom to the region,” Esmaili said.

“The railroad will also facilitate the goods transit in the whole region, shortening the north-south route by 600km, thus decreasing time and costs of good transits,” he told Mehr News, and that “the railroad will be a breakthrough in the region, since it connects to the Iran-Turkey railroad in west and in south, it connects to Pakistan and Bandar Abbas railroads and in southwest to Iraq; it also connects Kazakhstan to Russia and north, and farther northeast to Uzbekistan, and through it to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.”

Esmaili said that the first phase of the railroad will make possible transit of 2-3 million tons of goods annually; however, “it is possible also to increase it to a maximum of 12 million tons of goods annually.”

Esmaili highlighted the geopolitical and geostrategic position of Iran as the most secure, economically justified, and shortest route for Central Asian countries to access open waters; “the railroad will bring about friendship between nations and stability to the region in addition to economic boom and improved trade routes,” he said.

He also emphasized that the opening of the railroad was an indication that cruel sanctions had not succeeded to bar countries in the region from cooperation with Iran to enjoy Iran’s unique position.