Revival of the lost link of Eurasia; Moscow and Tehran rise to build the Rasht-Astara railway

Source link: Reviving the Lost Link of Eurasia; The rise of Moscow and Tehran to build the Rasht-Astara railway At a glance, the construction of the 162-kilometer Rasht-Astara railway as the missing link of the North-South international corridor, after years of delay and with the agreement between Moscow and Tehran, will enter the implementation phase at a cost of 1.6 billion euros. By solving the difficult challenge of acquiring land in Gilan province and eliminating the costly transfer of goods across the border, this […] Source site: Safi

The 162-kilometer Rasht-Astara railway construction project, as the missing link of the North-South international corridor, will enter the implementation phase after years of delay and with the agreement between Moscow and Tehran at a cost of 1.6 billion euros.

By solving the difficult challenge of land acquisition in Gilan province and eliminating the costly movement of goods at the border, this plan will provide the annual transit capacity of at least 15 million tons of cargo to compensate for the limitations and saturation of the capacity of the Caspian sea route.

The significant leap of rail shipments of the corridor in 2026 and the development of digital customs protocols between Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan show that the Rasht-Astara railway has become more than a construction project, it has become a strategic test for the development of Eurasian transit.

In recent years, the Rasht-Astara railway has emerged as the missing link of one of the most ambitious transport projects in Eurasia. Now, as regional calculations change and the limitations of alternative routes become apparent, Moscow and Tehran appear to be returning to the plan with greater urgency.

This 162 km long railway connects the cities of Rasht and Astara in Iran and completes the western branch of the North-South Corridor (INSTC). This route reaches the Persian Gulf from Russia through Azerbaijan and Iran and provides the possibility of a potential rail connection to India.

According to the Caspian News website, Sergei Pavlov, First Deputy CEO of Russian Railways, announced this week that Moscow and Tehran expect construction to begin in 2027 and be completed within three years. According to him, the mapping work is going on after a break caused by military conflicts earlier this year.

Limits of the Caspian route and return to the western branch

This effort shows both geopolitical necessity and commercial pressure. During the period of tension between Moscow and Baku, Russian officials and analysts discussed the eastern branch of the North-South Corridor through Central Asia as a potential priority. But that enthusiasm has since waned. Meanwhile, the Caspian Sea Route is struggling to keep up with demand, with Russian media reporting that the route's existing capacity is close to saturation. This has once again put the Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran rail connection in the center of consultation.

The western branch of the North-South Corridor is designed as a multi-modal route connecting Russian transport hubs such as Astrakhan and Makhachkala with Baku, Rasht and Bandar Abbas. The 511 km section in Azerbaijan in this corridor has been completed and operational for a long time, but the Rasht-Astara connection is still considered a fundamental gap.

Technical specifications, financial estimation and removal of obstacles in Gilan lands

Once completed, the plan will allow freight trains to travel from Russia to Iran via Azerbaijan without the current dependence on road transport at the Iranian border. The loads that arrive in Astara, Azerbaijan, are now transferred to trucks and then continue on the road inside Iran. This costly and time-consuming process weakens the commercial attractiveness of this corridor.

The cost of this project is estimated at 1.6 billion euros, of which Russia is expected to provide 1.3 billion euros. Plans include the construction of 8 stations, 56 overpasses, 73 bridges and 30 level crossings, and Russian officials expect the route to handle at least 15 million tons of cargo annually once completed.

For Moscow, the project is part of a larger effort to build flexible trade routes outside Europe's traditional transit networks. It is also a key opportunity for Tehran to strengthen its position as a main logistics center in Eurasia and establish a deeper connection with the northern markets.

Also, the political environment has become more favorable. In early October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Valdai Dialogue Club that Moscow is ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the development of the North-South Corridor and that there are no problems in this regard.

Iran has also taken action to remove one of the permanent obstacles of this project, i.e. land acquisition. Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Farzaneh Sadegh, recently announced that Tehran has completed the purchase of land along the entire Rasht-Astara route. This process was especially complicated in Gilan province, one of the few authorized areas for rice cultivation in Iran, and farmers demanded high fees for their fertile lands. Solving this problem has removed a big practical obstacle.

The dream of a unified rail to the Persian Gulf and the smart project

Now a more ambitious question arises, can the Russian 1520 mm standard rail line eventually extend beyond the Rasht-Astara section? Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, said in September that Tehran was considering using Russian rail to Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port on the Persian Gulf. However, such plans remain speculative, as experts estimate that building a continuous Russian-standard rail line through Iran could cost up to $10 billion, several times the price of the Rasht-Astara project.

Therefore, the urgent task now is to build Rasht-Astara and fill the most important gap in the international north-south corridor. The three countries are also looking to improve the efficiency of the corridor by digitizing it. In July, the railway authorities of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran signed a trilateral protocol in Moscow aimed at harmonizing electronic data systems and gradually replacing paper documents with a digital corridor.

A strategy for regional integration

Cargo traffic statistics show why this project is still of interest. According to the Russian Railways report, cargo transported along the North-South Corridor rail routes between January and September 2026 reached 8.9 million tons, which is a 9.6% increase compared to last year. Only in September, the volume of shipments increased by 32.2% to 1.1 million tons. Grain transportation to Iran through Astara has also been very strong and reached 65,000 tons in the first half of the year, four times the same period in 2025.

These numbers do not yet make the North-South Corridor a full-fledged alternative to traditional routes, but they do indicate an increase in demand. This shows that the Rasht-Astara railway section is no longer just an infrastructure project, but has become a strategic test to transform the political interests of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan into an efficient trade corridor in Eurasia.