Iran-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan railway ready in 2011

The railway facilitates transportation of goods from the Central Asian countries to the Persian Gulf.

At present the two countries have built 300km of the railway from Barkat station in Turkmenistan's Balkan province towards Kazakhstan borders and the remaining 360-km railway will be constructed by the end of the current year.

Launching the international railway will shorten more than 600 km of the route for transporting goods from the Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and the route will be turned into one of the most important international transportation link between China and Europe.

Analysts believe that 3 to 5mln tons of commodities can be transported in the first phase, while 10 to 20mln tons of goods will be carried annually once all other phases of the railway are complete.

They argue that the railway will actually be transformed into "the Modern-Age Silk Road".

The primary agreement on the construction of the railroad between Iran-Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was signed between presidents of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in April 2007 in the city of Turkmenbashi and its final agreement was signed in a summit meeting in Tehran in September of the same year among the three presidents, Kazinform refers to Weekly News Bulletin No18 of the Kazakhstan Embassy in the U.S.A.