Senior Azerbaijani, Iranian and Russian officials on Thursday inaugurated the Rasht-Caspian Railway in the Gilan province in northern Iran, part of the International North-South Transport Corridor that connects the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea by rail.
The railway was launched at a ceremony attended by Iran's acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, and Minister of Transport and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash.
The aide to the Russian president, Igor Levitin, and Astrakhan Oblast Gov. Igor Babushkin attended the ceremony on the Russian side. Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev was also there, as well as the ambassadors of the neighboring countries.
The 37-kilometer (22-mile) railway connects the city of Rasht in northern Iran to the Caspian Sea and is expected to facilitate trade between Iran and the other four littoral states of the sea, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.
