Iran – RAI

Company information

Iran is located in Southwestern Asia and in the Middle-East region. The official name is the Islamic Republic of Iran. The area of Iran is 1,648,195 square kilometers, standing at the 18th place in the world in terms of area. Tehran is the capital city of Iran and according to the latest census, the population of the country is about 80 million people.

Construction of railway in Iran was a great and national expectation, which this national wish came to reality in 1927. October 15, 1927, marked the beginning of constructing the trans-Tehran railway; since the very time, the construction of the railway was commenced at three points from South – Centre, and North.

Presently Iranian railway owns more than 11000 kilometers of rail lines and 6500 km of new rail lines are under construction. One of our programs for developing transport is to try to increase the number of passenger transport from the present annual 28 million people to 40 million people and to increase the freight transport from the present 51 million tons to 92 million tons till the end of 2020.

Effective measures are under implementation for high speed train development such as construction of Tehran- Isfahan high speed line with the length of 409 kilometers and the operating speed of 250km/h; Moreover, the electrification of double track of Tehran-Mashhad with the length of 926 km and the speed increase from 160km/h to 200km/h is under operation.

The crucial geographical and strategic situation of the country and the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region and its connection with international waters through the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea have turned it into a transit route and an important linking bridge of rail transportation in the region.

The rail network of the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran is connected to:

• Turkey from west of the country (Razi Border) through which it is connected to Europe.
• The rail network of CIS countries, Russia and China (Via Turkmenistan) in Sarakhs border station in North-East of the country as well as from Inch boron border in the north of Iran.
• The Republic of Azerbaijan (Jolfa Border) from NorthWest of the country,
• The Caspian Sea and ports in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russian Federation from North of the country through Amir Abad, Neka and Turkman ports.
• Pakistan (Mirjaveh Border) from South- East of the country and to the Persian Gulf and international waters through Bandar Abbas and Imam Khomeini Ports.

Moreover, the rail network of the Iranian railway has been developed and extended until the Iraq border in Shalamche and Afghanistan border in Shamtigh.

Railway tourism in Iran

Iranian Railways has recently developed tourist trains inside the country and some international touristic tours have entered Iran by train.

2014 was a turning point and starting date for rail tours in Iran; in this year, some tourist companies in Iran together with some international tour operators acted for launching the first rail tours in Iran under the support and cooperation of Iranian Railways and they brought tourists from different parts of the world such as Europe, United States, Africa, and Oceania.

Iran is home to some of the world’s most magnificent historical and archaeological sites. Relics of a proud ancient civilization include Persepolis, the capital of the largest empire that the world has ever seen, which is in Shiraz. With its old history and numerous monuments, Isfahan is an exemplary city in the world and it is Iran’s top tourist destination, with many tourist attractions

With its old history and numerous monuments, Isfahan is an exemplary city in the world and it is Iran’s top tourist destination, with many tourist attractions.

Iranian Railways (RAI) is developing its tourist trains and with regard to historical and very attractive tourist places in Iran, RAI has developed its railway network to the main cities across the country and welcomes international tourist, tour operators and trains for visiting this country, the country of four seasons.

Presently the one-day scheduled tourist trains of Iranian Railways on weekends are running on the below routes of the country:

• Tehera-Savadkouh (in Mazandaran Province, north of Iran)
• Tehran-Shirgah (in Mazandaran Province, north of Iran)
• Tehran- Rasht (North of Iran)
• Tehran- Kashan (a city northern part of Isfahan province)

There are also weekly Trains from Iran to Turkey as below:

• Tabriz- Van
• Tehran- Ankara

South Rail Route, Lorestan, Iran

In accordance with the Perspective Development Plan Document, Tourist Trains Project of Iranian Railways aims at identifying, studying and conducting feasibility studies for new routes to develop rail connection in order to design and plan to conduct tours on the routes of Mashhad-Ashgabat, Tehran-Moscow, Mashhad-Tehran-Qom-Karbala, Quetta-Zahedan-Mashhad, Mashhad-Samarkand-Bukhara, Tabriz-van, Tehran-Ankara-Istanbul-Damascus-Varna-Athens.

Iran Nama: the railway tourism guide of Iran

Video

Contacts

Address: 1st Floor, Iranian Railways (RAI) HQ, Africa(Nelson Mandela) Blvd. Argentine SQ, Tehran, Iran

Tel: (+98) 21 55128401_3

Email: Tabatabaee_m@rai.ir, Nedaie_a@rai.ir, Abdollahi_a@rai.ir , ali.abdlhi@gmail.com

Website: www.rai.ir

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