(4 March 2016) Italferr, an FS Group company specialized in engineering, will assist Iranian Railways (RAI) in the contractual definition of the agreement for the design and construction of a 410 km-long high-speed line, which will connect Tehran to Qom and Isfahan. The contract between RAI and Italferr provides for a 4-month technical and economic consulting service on the Italian part, who will support the Iranian partner in the negotiation of prices and contract terms with the Chinese contractor CREC, in charge of carrying out the infrastructure works. The agreement between RAI and Italferr stems from a meeting held last December between FS CEO Renato Mazzoncini and the Iranian Deputy Minister of Transport Aghaei, also President of RAI; and on the January 2016 meeting between the Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Graziano Delrio with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Akhoundi. The two had signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing cooperation guidelines regarding the development of the Iranian railway network. Iran’s railway infrastructure extends for about 10,000 kilometers, but the network will expand up to 25,000 km by 2025, of which 7,500 km are already under construction. (Red)
