Speaking at the welcoming ceremony for the arrival of the first Chinese cargo train in Tehran, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI) Mohsen Pourseyyed Aghaei said “countries along the Silk Road are striving to revive the ancient network of trade routes.”
“The arrival in Tehran of the train in less than a fortnight has been an unprecedented achievement,” underlined the official stressing “the train has travelled a daily average of 700 kilometers which outstrips truck and road transport.”
Pourseyyed Aghaei pointed out “the train trip reduced travel time for 30 days compared with maritime transport which marks a great advantage of the Silk Road as the main transit route over other roads.”
“On the basis of defined plans, the Silk Road railroad will be linked to Europe which means Port of Shanghai in China will be connected to Europe through Iran,” emphasized RAI managing director.
He highlighted that Iran’s rail transit volume in the current Iranian calendar year (Began March 21, 2015) has been 1.5 million tons while the figure will reach four million tons in the coming year bringing about a massive boost in the country’s rail transit.
The first cargo train from China arrived in Tehran on Monday after covering a distance of almost 10,000 kilometers.
It was carrying 32 containers each with a capacity of 40 square feet and passed through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan before reaching Iran.
The train had left China from the trading hub of Yiwu in the northwestern province of Xinjiang on 29 January.
The project was part of a Chinese initiative to revive the ancient Silk Road through which traders traveled from Europe to East Asia.
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