Islamabad, August 05: International freight service between Islamabad, Tehran and Istanbul is to be launched August 14, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Railways says.
“Iran will provide required transshipment facilities in its southeastern city of Zahedan ’til a standard railway is laid between Zahedan and Mirjaveh,” local Pakistani media quoted Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour as saying on Tuesday.
He added that international freight would reach its destination within 15 days.
The Pakistani Minister said the train service is 6,506 kilometers long, 1,900 km of which passes through Pakistan, 2,570 km through Iran and 2,036 km through Turkey.
He said the planned train service will be operated as a pilot project of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in line with an accord signed by the three states in March this year.
Bilour said other ECO members, including Afghanistan, might also join the service as soon as it becomes established.
The minister said that Turkey and Iran already have rail links at their borders and have rail services for both freight and passengers.
He said the train service would be of great benefit to the business community of Pakistan, Turkey and Iran and that the launch of the train services would help enhance trade and people-to-people contacts among the three important ECO countries.
“We are trying to line up soft credit with international financial institutions to resolve the issue related to rail gauge between Pakistan and Iran before it is made a full-grown train service,” Bilour said.
—-Agencies