RUSSIA SAYS READY TO JOIN IN IRAN-ARMENIA RAILWAY PROJECT

IranVNC
icle/2/5839
Nov 7 2008
DC

Washington, 7 November (IranVNC)–Vladimir Yakunin, head of the
state-owned Russian Railways Company [RZD], today in Moscow said
that his company was ready to participate in the Iran-Armenia railway
project, the official IRNA news agency reports.

Washington, 7 November (IranVNC)–Vladimir Yakunin, head of the
state-owned Russian Railways Company [RZD], today in Moscow said
that his company was ready to participate in the Iran-Armenia railway
project, the official IRNA news agency reports.

Yakunin told reporters that RZD would help secure the estimated
one billion dollars needed for the 500-kilometer [310-mile]
railway. Armenia’s transport and communications minister has estimated
the cost at between $1.5-2 billion dollars, IRNA reports.

Armenian officials have stated Iran’s geographic proximity to
their country and Armenia’s lack of transport ties with neighboring
Azerbaijan and Turkey as motives behind the railway, which has yet
to advance beyond the planning stage.

According to Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency, RZD’s profits
were down 25 percent for the first nine months of 2008, compared to
last year.

Last July, RZD announced that it was developing a trilateral project
with Azerbaijan and Iran to build a direct rail link between Russia
and Iran.

Meanwhile, Ehsan Moqaddam, the managing director for public relations
at Iran’s Railway Company, told IRNA that Iran has purchased 3,200
tons of rail track from China, despite being under sanctions.