ARMENIA AND IRAN PLAN RAIL LINK
United Press International
April 4 2009
YEREVAN, Armenia, April 4 (UPI) — Armenia and Iran have signed an
agreement for a railway that would link Armenia to the Persian Gulf.
The line would not become a reality for about five years, the Russian
Interfax news agency reported. A working group is expected to take
about 18 months to determine the best route and do a feasibility
study and constructing the line would take three to four years,
Iranian Roads and Transportation Minister Hamed Behbahani said.
Armenia, a landlocked country, has no rail line that crosses its
border. Rail lines to Azerbaijan and Turkey have been closed for years,
and the rail link with Russia was cut by the Russian-Georgian conflict
since it crosses Georgia.
Behbahani said the line would be about 300 miles long, with most of
that distance in Armenia.
Gurgen Sarkisian, the Armenian minister of transportation and
communications, described the rail line as "a continuation of the
Silk Road," the historic trade route that connected China with the
Middle East.