December 16th, 2015 – The Italian State Railways group is working for the railway network of Iran, which now consists of about 13,000 kilometers and is the subject of a massive renovation and construction program for new high-speed lines. This was also the focus of a meeting held yesterday in Rome between the CEO of FS Renato Mazzoncini, and the Deputy Minister of Transport and President of Iran Railways (RAI – Islamic Republic of Iran Railways), Mohsen Pour Seyed Aghaie. Collaboration between the Italian group and Iran dates back to 2001, with the Italian Italferr working until 2007 with the Iranian Metra Consulting Engineers Co. Recently, Italferr has been selected to assist Iranian railways in the project for the Tehran-Qom-Isfahan high speed rail line (410 km), which is considered a priority in the development plans of the government of Iran. Italferr is also interested in the electrification of the Tehran-Mashhad line (about 1,000 km) and is working on the preliminary draft of the Test Centre of Iranian railways, the development of the activities for the Independent Checking Engineering and Train and Subway Certification (in collaboration with Astaneh), and on the Mashhad Subway (with the Consortium Italcertifer, the certification company of the FS Group which is the “preferred bidder”). Further opportunities may arise from this collaboration for railways projects with neighboring countries and support the installation of the ETCS-European Train Control System, an automatic signal system for the management, control and protection of railway traffic. In this regard, FS and Iran Railways are negotiating a memorandum of understanding. (Red)
