CONTAINER TRAINS between Berlin and Tehran will start running in August, according to the President of Russian Railways Gennadi Fadeyev. That month will see the formal launch of the North-South corridor linking Europe with Central Asia and shipping routes from the Gulf to India.
Fadeyev visited Germany at the beginning of April and Iran on April 6 to sign co-operation agreements setting up the corridor. During his trip to Tehran, the RZD President met his opposite number at RAI Mohamad Saed Hezhad and Iran's Minister of Roads & Transport Ahmad Horram.
RZD expects the north-south corridor to cut the cost of shipping a 40ft container from Europe to India by a third, and shorten the Berlin - Tehran journey time from five to three days. At first the corridor will use a train ferry link across the Caspian Sea, but Fadeyev hopes to see this augmented by all-rail routings through Azerbaijan and Armenia.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree on March 2 to abolish 17 ministries, including the Ministry of Railway Transport which had been in existence for almost 150 years. In its place a new Federal Agency of Railway Transport has been formed, headed by Pavel Akulov.
