History of rail transport in Iran

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In the second half of the 19th century, during the time of

Nasser-al-Din Shah, a short horse-driven suburban railway
was established south of Tehran that was later converted to steam. This line was closed in 1952.

The

Jolfa–Julfa (Russia) line (146 km) was opened in 1915 (in 1916 official opening), the Sufian–Sharafkhaneh (53 km) in 1916, and the Mirjaveh–Zahedan
(93 km) in 1920. In 1915–1918, the Russians built and operated a military narrow-gauge railway Shakhtakhty (Russia) - Maku (Persia)- Bayazed (Turkey).

World War II

The 1,392 km (865 mi) long

Bandar Shahpur on the Persian Gulf was opened during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1939. The railroad was built with rail weighing 67 pounds per yard (33 kg/m) and required more than 3000 bridges. There were 126 tunnels in the Zagros mountains. The longest was 1.5 miles. Grades averaged 1.5 percent south of Tehran, but then increased to 2.8 percent to cross the 7,270-foot pass between Tehran and the Caspian Sea. After the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941, this Persian Corridor became one of the supply routes for war material for the Soviet Union during World War II. The British built a 75-mile (121 km) branch line from the 3000-foot (900-meter) bridge over the Karun River in Ahwaz to a new southern port at Khorramshahr on the Shatt al-Arab river. In 1943 3,473 American soldiers of the Military Railway Service began running trains between the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea using ALCO RS-1 locomotives rebuilt with 3-axle trucks and designated RSD-1.[1] The Americans set up headquarters in Ahwaz, but were unable to tolerate the daytime heat, and generally operated the railway at night.[2]

Before the revolution

After the transportation minister visited one of Japanese new high speed railway in 1975 he invited them to study a new high speed line between Tehran and Mashhad. a delegation came to Iran for this study and their proposal was prepared with three options:

1- Double tracking, signaling and electrification of existing route with 160 km/h speed.

2- Constructing a new dedicated high speed line with 210 km/h like japan as the second country in the world.

3- Constructing a new dedicated high speed line with 270 km/h that was more than Japanese one.

and for the third one they explained the 10 year duration of project that was enough to develop the new generation of high speed trains.

Challenging construction

The Trans-Iranian railway traverses many mountain ranges, and is full of

ruling grades
. Much of the terrain was unmapped when construction took place, and its geology unknown. Several stretches of line, including tunnels, were built through unsuitable geology, and had to be replaced even before the line opened. Nevertheless, the line was completed ahead of schedule.

In recent years the railways have undergone significant extensions including the 1977 linking to the western railway system at the

Mashad–Sarakhs extension as part of the Silk Road
railway to link to the landlocked Central Asian Countries.

Railway construction

Source:[3]

Route Length in km Date of Construction
Tehran– Ray 9 1884–1886
Mahmudabad–Amol 16 1882–1887
Tehran–Karaj 41 1895–1903
Jolfa
 148 1910–1914
Sufian–Sharafkhaneh 53 1913–1916
Zahedan–Mirjaveh 94 1912–1921
Tehran–Bandar Shah 461 1928–1938
Bandar Shahpur
 928 1928–1939
Ahvaz–Khorramshahr 121 1942–1943
Mahshahr
 12 1950–1951
Garmsar–Mashhad 812 1938–1958
Tehran–Tabriz 736 1939–1959
Gorgan–Bandar Shah 35 1960–1961
Tabriz–Bazargan 192 1912–1971
Qom–Zarand 847 1939–1971
Isfahan–Zarrin Shahr 111 1969–1972
Zarand–Kerman 80 1975–1979
Bandar-Abbas
 626 1982–1995
Aprin–Maleki 24 1993–1997
Aprin–Mohammediya-2 122 1994–1999
Meibod
 219 1992–1999
Mohammediya-2–Mohammediya-1 6 1994–1999
Bafq–Kashmar 800 1992–2001
Isfahan–Shiraz 506 2004–2009
Kerman–Zahedan 546 2002–2009

References

  1. ^ Pinkepank, Jerry A. The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide 1973 Kalmbach Books p.233
  2. ISBN 1-55046-021-8
    pp.8&73-77
  3. ^ "ЖДМ 03-2003: Железнодорожное строительство в Иране". Archived from the original on 2011-11-13. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
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