OREANDA-NEWS. On February 09, 2009 Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, participated in a ceremony to mark the start of work to electrify the Tebriz - Azarshahr railway line, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

The event was also attended by the heads of Iranian Railways, Iran’s Ministry of Transport and other officials.

As part of the ceremony, a conference was held on "Prospects for Russian-Iranian Rail Cooperation."

After the events had come to a close, Vladimir Yakunin held bilateral meetings with Iranian officials.
 
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The 46km railway branch line located on the outskirts of Tabriz due for electrification has an alternating current with a voltage of 25 kV and an industrial frequency of 50 Hz. The line serves the local community and the university in the town of Azarshahr and links the passenger terminals in Tabriz with the university. It also joins the line between Djulfa and Tabriz, which was electrified in 1979 under a project carried out by the Soviet Union.

The contact network on the line between Tebriz and the Pedagogical University which is envisaged by the contract takes into account the further electrification of the railway line towards Teheran with regard to its electrical characteristics.

Switching the suburban trains to electric traction will create a favourable environment for an increase in passenger traffic, reduce operating costs, improve the safety of train travel and improve environmental protection.

The contract to electrify the Tebriz - Azarshahr (TARE) line was signed on 29 March 2008 by Vladimir Yakunin, the President of Russian Railways and Mr. Hassan Ziyari, the President of Iranian Railways (RAI) as a direct result of agreements reached in Moscow on 13 December 2007 during the seventh meeting of the Permanent Russian-Iranian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. This in turn underlined the further development of economic relations between the two countries after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Teheran on 16 October 2007.