Moscow Eyes New Rail Route South to Iran But Daunting Problems Remain

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Nov. 20 – Difficulties and delays in the construction of the Rashta-Astara rail line have prompted Moscow to shift attention to the possibility of building a rail line between the Azerbaijani city of Imishli and the Iranian city of Parsabad as part of Putin’s much-ballyhooed north-south transit route.
    The new link, much closer to the Caspian and less mountainous, might allow Moscow and Tehran to complete this project far sooner, although the problems it has faced in the past with the Rashta-Astara route are likely to make any progress even there slow. (On this shift, see casp-geo.ru/alternativnyj-marshrut-proekt-novoj-zheleznoj-dorogi-iz-azerbajdzhana-v-iran/; on problems in rail construction in Iran, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/10/despite-hype-baku-and-tehran-still-far.html.)
    The Kremlin hopes that it will be able to open a rail line connecting Russian railways with those in Iran and extending all the way south to the gulf by 2030, but even Russian experts remain skeptical about that prospect, something the shift in route will do little to change (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/12/moscows-effort-to-establish-corridor-to.html).