DUSHANBE, August 1, 2016, Asia-Plus -- Further fate of rail link connecting Chin and Iran via Tajikistan is expected to be decided in Tehran

“Transport ministers of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China, Iran, and Kyrgyzstan will meet in Tehran in the near future to decide the further fate of the project on construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran railway, Tajik Transport Minister Sherali Ganjalzoda announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on August 1.

According to him, the plan of implementation of this initiative is being implemented by stages.   

“The upcoming meeting in Tehran is expected to result in signing of a protocol, on the basis of which a government-to-government agreement on construction of the mentioned regional railway will be prepared,” Ganjalzoda said.

A total length of this regional railroad is nearly 2,000 kilometers and an estimated budget for construction of the Tajik section, which is more than 580 kilometers in length, is reportedly more than 3.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Representatives of transport ministries and railway departments from the five countries signed a document on the railway in Dushanbe in December 2014

Meanwhile, China Daily reported in January this year that the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region plans to start preliminary work on a railway linking China with Iran via Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan within five years.

The railway is expected to run from Xinjiang''s Kashgar to Kyrgyzstan, then go to Tajikistan and Afghanistan''s Herat and finally connect with the Iranian railway.

Conducting preliminary work on the railway has been listed in the draft of the region''s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).