The state railroad monopoly Russian Railways considers its project on the electrification of the railway in Iran completely civilian and not subject to US sanctions, the company's CEO Oleg Belozerov said in an interview with Sputnik before the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"In Iran, we will be engaged in electrification which is related directly to railway transport. We believe that this is a completely civilian project that does not fall under the [US] sanctions, but we are clarifying it," Sputnik cited Russian Railways CEO as saying.
Belozerov recalled that Russian Railways has signed a contract and is preparing for the electrification of the Garsar-Ince Burun railway line with the supply of track equipment and 40 locomotives. The project is estimated at 1.2 billion euros ($1.41 billion). It will be financed from the Russian government's state export credit to the government of Iran. The work is scheduled to begin in July 2018.
In 2012, Russian Railways had completed one project in Iran — the electrification of the Tabriz-Azarshahr railway line.
