By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

It is time the latest agreement signed by Iran and Iraq on Monday for linking the two countries’ railway networks by connecting the 30 km corridor between Shalamcheh and Basra, should no longer be confined to paper, but practical steps ought to be taken for laying the tracks which would certainly be an economic bonanza for the two neighbours.
Freight and passenger traffic would be greatly increased between the two countries if Iran’s 13,000 km rail network that already has links with Turkey, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, is connected to Iraq’s 2,272 km modest network whose northern limit is the town of Qaim near to the Syrian border.
Trade exchanges between Iran and Iraq are currently carried out via the road connection, and so also the massive flow of pilgrims throughout the year to the holy shrines located in either country, with only a small percentage using the airways.
Once, the Shalamcheh-Basra railway is complete this would greatly benefit the two sides, both economically and commercially, in view of the fact that Iraq could be virtually connected to a transcontinental network extending all the way up to China, while Iran can help its western neighbour to practically establish a railway link with Syria’s 2,450 km railway network that extends to the Mediterranean Sea.
With Iran and Iraq also planning to provide a vital connection between Kermanshah and Baghdad, pilgrims and other passengers from the two countries as well as Syria and Lebanon, along with the flow of goods, can conveniently visit the holy sites in the three countries.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, as the major railway powerhouse of West and Central Asia is ideally located as the land bridge for the countries of the region, especially for the landlocked states of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Plans are also underway to connect the Iranian railway to Armenia and Afghanistan, in order to provide a safe and economical route for these two countries to the high seas and the international markets.
Currently, some 33 million tonnes of goods and over 30 million passengers are transported annually by the rail transportation network of Iran, accounting for 12 and 15 percent of all transportation respectively.
Once the Iran-Iraq railway link is complete, the tonnage of goods and the number of passengers will significantly rise.
Iran’s Minister of Road and Urban Development, Rostam Qasemi, who signed the latest agreement with Iraq’s Transportation Minister Hussein al-Shibli, said the Shalamcheh-Basra project will be completed in the next two months.
The sooner this is completed the better for the two neighbours as well as for other countries, since in addition to the benefits for trade and economy, the Iran-Iraq railway link would greatly boost political ties, strengthen the security, and safeguard the sovereignty and independence of the region by accelerating the pace of the coordinated drive for driving out the American occupiers and thwarting the unbridled terrorism of the illegal Zionist entity.