{"id":254556,"date":"2025-07-21T19:18:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T09:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=64345"},"modified":"2025-07-21T19:18:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T09:18:54","slug":"china-and-iran-agree-on-massive-electrification-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=254556","title":{"rendered":"China and Iran agree on massive electrification project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran has awarded an unspecified Chinese company the contract for a massive electrification deal along the Razi\u2013Sarakhs railway, which connects T\u00fcrkiye and Turkmenistan via Iran. The deal entails the electrification of 1,000 kilometres of this line, which stretches for almost 2,000 kilometres in total.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The deal was announced last week by the CEO of Iranian Railways Jabbar Ali Zakeri during a meeting with the Chairman of China Railway Guo Zhuxue in Beijing. Other than electrification, the plan entails the doubling of parts of the infrastructure. Currently, only the stretch between Mashhad and Teheran are in double tracks.<\/p>\n

Focus on container traffic<\/h2>\n

China and Iran are strengthening their trade relations, especially when it comes to container traffic, which increased by 260% in the first half of 2025. In February, China and Iran agreed to further develop rail freight along the China\u2013Iran\u2013Europe axis together with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and T\u00fcrkiye.<\/p>\n

Despite the good intentions from both countries, geopolitical tensions still constitute an obstacle. For example, the launch of a multimodal service between China and Armenia was cancelled last month due to a new wave of Israeli attacks on Iran, where the route was meant to go through.<\/p>\n