Iran's SNSC approves Rasht-Astara railway agreement, land handover completed

Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has approved the agreement on the Rasht-Astara railway, a key section of the International North-South Transport Corridor, according to Houshang Bazvand, Iranian Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and Director General of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company (CDTIC). Bazvand, speaking to local Iranian media in remarks cited by Russia's TASS news agency, said the approval came last week and credited the SNSC for its efforts in advancing the agreement.

Bazvand said that on the previous Wednesday, the remaining 37 kilometers of land along the route were transferred to the Russian company, meaning the entire route has now been handed over for the necessary surveys and fieldwork. With the land handover complete, he said, work will proceed more quickly, and Iranian engineers will also take part in the surveys.

TASS reported that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Nikitin said on November 5 that Russia's Caspian Services and Iran's CDTIC signed a protocol granting access to land plots along the entire route for advance engineering surveys, along with a supplemental agreement to the contract.

The Rasht-Astara section is intended to connect the railway networks of Russia and Iran into a single system. It is described as a cornerstone element of the International North-South Transport Corridor, which is meant to open a seamless route from the Persian Gulf toward the South Asian region.

According to Mehr News, the project's progress depends on the completion of land access and survey work, with the SNSC approval and the full handover of the route marking the latest steps in that process.