TABNAK, Aug, 21: Last September, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani and former Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber laid the foundation stone for the cross-border railway line connecting the two neighboring countries.
The cross-border railway project serves as an introduction to strategic transportation projects that would connect Iraq and neighboring countries.
Cleaning the area of the railroad from grenade, mine and mortars have been the key challenges to the project.
He emphasized that the strategic project can bring about a major change in the West Asia region.
In addition to connecting the railways of the two countries, it would also act as complementary to the international transport routes.
All regional and extra-regional countries need two North-South and East-West transport corridors and this project is one of the cases that has been on the agenda of the Iranian and Iraqi governments for a long time.
The Shalamcheh-Basra railway, which will be 32 kilometers (19.8 miles) long, will connect Iran to the Mediterranean (Jordan and Syria).
Iran and Iraq signed an agreement for the construction of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway in 2021 after being in the pipeline for many years. Prior to this, plans were shelved in 2014, the same year that Daesh Takfiri terrorists overran large swathes of land in northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
After repeated delays, efforts were revived in April with Baghdad and Tehran agreeing to implement the railway link during a meeting between Iraqi Minister of Transport Razzaq Mohibis al-Saadawi and Iranian Minister of Roads and Housing Mehrdad Bazrpash in the Iranian capital.
The railway project will reportedly become operational within the next 18 months.
