The Hindu Business Line : Indian Railways may sign MoU with Russian, Iranian counterparts

New Delhi, April 24 Indian Railways may sign an MoU with its Russian and Iranian counterparts this May in Seoul, where the International Union of Railways (UIC) would have its next meeting.

UIC is an association comprising railway operators of various countries, and it works towards the promotion of railways as a transportation mode.

The details of the MoU are yet to be worked out, though broadly it would promote the north-south rail corridor in the Trans Asian Railway (TAR) network. The corridor envisages connecting Northern Europe to Persian Gulf. There would be further rail-cum-sea connectivity with India through the Western port ports. The Indian Railways Chairman, Mr K.C. Jena, who had recently visited Iran in his capacity as the UIC (International Union of Railways) Chairman, said this in media briefing here on Wednesday.

Iranian Railways has also asked its Indian counterpart to cooperate in various areas like training, electrification, rail link and port development projects in Iran. All these projects would primarily encourage rail transportation on TAR network’s north-south corridor.

“Iran has sought cooperation from Indian Railways towards training its officials in India. We also discussed exchanging teaching staff for the Middle East Railway Academy, to be set up under the aegis of UIC,” Mr Jena said.

Indian companies may consider bidding in rail signalling, electrification, rail link and port projects to be taken up in Iran. “Iran wants Indian firms to participate in developing the port of Chabahar (outside the Gulf of Persia, nearer to Pakistan), and constructing a rail link connecting the Chabahar port to Farhaj in Iran,” he said.

With this, sea connectivity could be established between the Iranian port and western ports of India, thus bypassing Pakistan. Between Russia and Iran, the connectivity could be through rail (via Azerbaijan) or rail-cum-sea