Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway launches operation

 The joint railway linking Iran to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan on the Eastern side of the Caspian Sea came into operation on Wednesday morning.
The inauguration ceremony of the troika railway was held at the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Turkmen and Kazakh counterparts in Inche-Boroun on Iran-Turkmenistan joint borderline.
The length of the railway is about 908 km of which 120 km is in Kazakhstan, 700 in Turkmenistan and 88 km in Iran.
The railway route connects the Commonwealth of the Independent States (CIS) countries to the Persian Gulf and the South East Asian nations.
In October, President Rouhani emphasized the need for relevant officials to pave the ground for faster implementation of joint railroad projects with the neighboring countries, particularly with Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan.
President Rouhani urged officials in charge to complete the Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan and the Khwaf-Herat (between Iran and Afghanistan) railways maximum within the next few months.