Paul Goble
Staunton, Sept. 29 – The Iranian government, which has already agreed to the use of the broader Russian-gauge railway (1520 mm as opposed to the international standard of 1435 km) on the 162 km Rasht-Astara section in the north, is now mulling allowing the extension of a railroad with the Russian gauge southward to the Gulf of Iran.
That possibility has been announced by Tehran’s ambassador to Moscow, Kazen Jalali, and would eliminate the bottlenecks resulting from the need to change the chassis of trains from the Russian standard to the international standard at the border between the two countries (casp-geo.ru/iran-dopustil-prodlenie-rossijskoj-zh-d-kolei-1520-do-persidskogo-zaliva/).
Were Tehran to agree and the two countries to arrange financing, something they have had difficulty in securing or coming up with, that would dramatically change trade patterns in the region, giving Russia enormous advantages in importing and exporting its goods and offering Iran large transit fees as well.
What makes this possible agreement between the two countries so striking is that it comes after Moscow has been forced to agree to Chinese demands that it modify some of Russia’s domestic rail routes to accommodate Chinese trade. (For background on that, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/04/bowing-to-china-moscow-for-first-time.html.)
Financing may kill this idea just as it has delayed the start of construction on the Rasht-Astara section, but it is an indication of just how much Russia wants this and how willing Iran is now prepared to talk about something that had not been on the table in the past.
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