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Article: Massive expansion Programme forges ahead; with 3300km of lines under construction, Iran has the world's second largest railway expansion programme after China. Plans are being drawn up to build a further 3579km of new lines.(Iran)
- Article from:
- International Railway Journal
- Article date:
- May 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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UNTIL the late 1980s, Iran had a very small rail network in relation to the size of the country (1,648,000[km.sup.2]), its population (about 60 million), mineral wealth, and strategic location. Since 1991, 1640km of new lines have been completed, extending the standard-gauge network to about 7300km today. Ten years from now, the network should grow to about 10,600km. In addition, the existing network is being steadily modernised and increased in capacity to try to meet demand.
The expansion programme is being pushed through to connect the country's main ports and cities to the rail network, to facilitate the extraction of minerals, and to enable Iran to reach its ...