Passenger train service Nakhchivan - Tabriz - Mashhad to be launched soon

[Provodnik]

A direct passenger train service from Nakhchivan to Mashhad via Tabriz might soon be started.


See http://www.azernews.az/business/104118.html

Nakhchivan ready to put Nakhchivan-Mashhad railway into operation
23 October 2016 13:01 (UTC+04:00)

Cooperation in the spheres of economy, health, customs, standardization, transit and transportation has been an important element of the bilateral relations between Iran and Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in last two years, Iran`s consul general in Nakhchivan Mansour Ayrim told journalists.

The consul general said that Nakhchivan was ready to put into operation the Nakhchivan-Mashhad railway, and added that once Iran was ready the railway would be launched increasing the passenger transportation between the two countries.

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More details: https://report.az/en/infrastructure/tra ... etermined/
Train rout from Nakhchivan to Mashhad determined
10 October, 2016 16:58
Azerbaijan provided to Iranian side three railway carriages

Baku. 10 October. REPORT.AZ/ Azerbaijan provided to Iranian side three railway carriages for passenger train to be used for Nakhchivan-Mashhad route.

Report informs, 36-person compartments have been totally renovated.

Three carriages will be delivered with special locomotive to Iranian city Tabriz, where they will be linked to Tabriz-Mashhad train. Finally, the carriages will be delivered to Iranian city Julfa with separate locomotive and from there to Nakhchivan with locomotive of "Azerbaijan Railways".

Chairman of "Azerbaijan Railways" CJSC Javid Gurbanov didn’t rule out the possibility of opening company’s office in Iran after launch of Nakhchivan-Mashhad train route.

At present, "Azerbaijan Railways" has offices in Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan and European countries.


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The first reports about this project appeared in march 2016:
https://report.az/en/infrastructure/ope ... akhchivan/

Opening of Nakhchivan-Tabriz-Tehran-Mashhad rail service discussed in Nakhchivan
2 March, 2016 17:07
They discussed mainly technical issues, including the train schedule and tariffs

Baku. 2 March. REPORT.AZ/ The first discussions on the opening of the Nakhchivan-Tabriz-Tehran-Mashhad international passenger rail service has been held in Nakhchivan.

Report informs, on behalf of Azerbaijan the meeting was attended by Madat Shikhamirov, deputy chief of the Department of Passenger Transportation at Azerbaijan Railways and Mahir Aliyev, director of Nakhchivan Railways. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Director General of Azerbaijan Railway Organization, and Murtaza Jaffar, Director General of Iran Railways Passenger Service.

They discussed mainly technical issues, including the train schedule and tariffs.

The preparatory meeting will be followed by a high-level gathering involving heads of Azerbaijani and Iranian railways due to take place in the coming days.


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Today Azerbaijan Railways wrote on their official Facebook-site (https://www.facebook.com/ADYQSC/) that the service will be launched soon:

"Tezliklə Naxçıvan-Məşhəd dəmir yolu xətti istifadəyə veriləcək."

Provodnik

[steven]

Hello, Helmut,

Interesting! No news on the date, though, if it like the Kars railway, it could take another 7 years. But I will include it, I started to write train article on Azerbaijan today.

I already updated the old ones and finished Georgia and Armenia. If you care to have a look, perhaps you can correct something: http://caravanistan.com/transport/train/georgia/
http://caravanistan.com/transport/train/armenia/

Edit: just saw your post on the train from Baku to Moscow on Tripadvisor - very useful once again!

[steven]

Also, do you know what is the latest on the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway? I think it is still some way from completion, correct?

[Provodnik]

The planned Nakhchivam train is different from the Kars-route, as the railway line already exists since many years and it's now just the question of running a passenger train. Whereas the Kars-route is a totally new railway line, where the construction is delayed...
Regarding Astara, Azerbaijan recently finished construction of the railway line from the station Astara (in Azerbaijn) to the border. On the Irainan side the line will soon be extended to an intermodal freioght terminal near Iranian Astara.
The completion to Rasht and connection with the rest of Iranian railway netwirk will probably still take some time.

See https://report.az/en/infrastructure/con ... iran-ends/
and
http://en.mehrnews.com/news/121211/Asta ... hin-months

The updated train information on your sited about Georguia&Azerbaijan looks fine!

[steven]

Thank you! Please let us know if you catch wind of the Nakchivan train operating. Great destination for the off-the-beaten track traveler.

[Provodnik]

News from


Hörmətli istifadəçilər,

Naxçıvan-Təbriz-Tehran-Məşhəd beynəlxalq sərnişin qatarının fəaliyyətə başlaması ilə bağlı bütün hazırlıqlar başa çatdırılıb. Sərnişin qatarı Naxçıvan şəhərindən həftədə iki dəfə hərəkət edəcək. Gediş haqqı 40 İsveçrə frankı (69 AZN) təşkil edir. Tariflər satış tarixində İsveçrə frankının manata olan məzənnəsi ilə müəyyən ediləcək. Marşrut üzrə sərnişin biletlərini onlayn, eləcə də Naxçıvan və Culfa dəmir yolu stansiyalarında yerləşən kassalardan əldə etmək mümkün olacaq.


Google-Translation:
"Nakhchivan-Tabriz-Tehran-Mashhad in connection with the launch of an international passenger train has completed all the preparations. The passenger train will move to twice a week in the city of Nakhchivan. Fare is 40 Swiss francs (69 £) is. The exchange value of the Swiss franc, the tariffs will be determined by the date of sale. The route's passenger tickets online, as well as Nakhchivan and Julfa railway stations will be available in the box offices."

[Provodnik]

Train service Nakhchivan - Mashhad starts on dec 29:
http://ady.az/news/read/217/43
http://metbuat.az/news/596626/nakhchiva ... er-29.html

[Milad]

Note that this train has already been cancelled about a year ago.

[itfcfan]

This line (and its onward connection to Armenia and possibly Turkey) is being discussed again.
https://eurasianet.org/nakhchivan-rail- ... onnections

I wonder how the train mentioned in 2016 ran in relation to track gauge? Was there a gauge change at the Iran - Nakhchivan border ("standard"/Iran 1435mm to "broad"/CIS 1520mm)? Or was the Nakhchivan track relaid to 1435mm? Given Nakhchivan track is completely isolated from the rest of the CIS network, I guess re-gauging to standard/1435mm would have been possible, but probably too big an effort simply to restart this infrequent service.

The reason for thinking about this is (a) how much extra journey time it changing gauge would add at the border; and (b) the benefit to Turkey and Iran (who both use 1435mm gauge) if the whole line used 1435mm (or dual gauge) to avoid transshipment.

[shahg6]

This line (and its onward connection to Armenia and possibly Turkey) is being discussed again.
https://eurasianet.org/nakhchivan-rail- ... onnections

I wonder how the train mentioned in 2016 ran in relation to track gauge? Was there a gauge change at the Iran - Nakhchivan border ("standard"/Iran 1435mm to "broad"/CIS 1520mm)? Or was the Nakhchivan track relaid to 1435mm? Given Nakhchivan track is completely isolated from the rest of the CIS network, I guess re-gauging to standard/1435mm would have been possible, but probably too big an effort simply to restart this infrequent service.

The reason for thinking about this is (a) how much extra journey time it changing gauge would add at the border; and (b) the benefit to Turkey and Iran (who both use 1435mm gauge) if the whole line used 1435mm (or dual gauge) to avoid transshipment.

https://www.openrailwaymap.org/index.ph ... 56&zoom=11 according to this map of track gauges, the bridge divides the Russian gauge from the Standard gauge. So yeah passengers probably had to changed trains at the border.