Iran to Complete Key Rail Link to Oman Sea by March

Iran’s transportation ministry has announced that construction of a major railway connecting the country’s eastern border regions to the Sea of Oman-home to Iran’s only ocean port-is expected to be completed by late March 2026.

In a Wednesday report, the ISNA news agency cited a timetable released by the Iranian transportation ministry showing that the 634-kilometer railway between the port of Chabahar in southeast Iran and the city of Zahedan near Iran’s border with Pakistan and Afghanistan will be ready by the end of the current calendar year, The Caspian Post reports citing Iranian media.

The report also quoted a recent statement from transportation minister Farzaneh Sadegh, which said that Iran is determined to end the Chabahar-Zahedan railway project this calendar year.

Sadegh also said that Iran wants the railway to extend to the city of Sarakhs on Iran’s northeastern border with Turkmenistan to further boost the country’s ability to process cargo transit, PressTV reported.

Iran opened two sections of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway in 2022, linking Zahedan, the capital of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, to Khash, located more than 150 kilometers to the southeast of Zahedan.

The construction arm of Iran’s elite military force the IRGC is contracted to build the remaining six sections between Khash and Chabahar via the cities of Nik Shahr and Iranshahr.

The Zahedan-Chabahar railway is part of a broader project to boost economic activity in the impoverished regions in southeast Iran and to increase cargo transit passing through the Iranian territory from the Indian Ocean to Afghanistan and other landlocked countries in Central Asia.

India, which is a partner to Iran’s development projects in Chabahar port, once made commitments to contribute to the railway project but withdrew from it citing fears of US sanctions on Iran.