Tehran, Ankara Resume Passenger Train Service
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Direct train services between the capitals of Iran and Turkey restarted on Wednesday with a passenger train leaving Tehran for Ankara in a 60-hour trip.
A few weeks after Iranian and Turkish authorities finalized plans to launch train services between the two countries, a passenger train bound for Ankara left Tehran on Wednesday night.
The once-weekly train will have a stopover in Iran’s northwestern city of Tabriz before crossing the border.
Passengers will have to get off the Iranian train at a railway station and pier on the eastern shore of Lake Van in Turkey, cross the lake on a ferry, and board a Turkish train on the other side of the lake to go to Ankara.
It takes around 60 hours for Tehran-Ankara train to reach its destination.
On June 24, Iran and Turkey launched direct train services between Tehran and the city of Van.
Iran’s Deputy Minister of Road and Urban Development Saeed Rasooli announced in early June that in addition to the Tehran-Ankara and Tehran-Van trains, tourist trains will be operated between the two neighboring countries.
He said Iran and Turkey have finalized an agreement on tariffs on cargo trains travelling between the two countries.
Tehran and Ankara have set a $30-billion annual trade target, signing several agreements to enhance cooperation in various areas.
Turkey is one of Iran’s major trading partners in the region which has come under pressure from Washington to stop working with Tehran under a fresh wave of US anti-Iran sanctions.
