page_title: Iran–Turkmenistan relations
section_title: Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Iran–Turkmenistan relations / Transportation / Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: A newly constructed railway station in Bereket city, October 2013
context_page_description: Iran and Turkmenistan share a common border of more than 1000 km. The two countries have good relations since Turkmenistan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, the two countries have enjoyed good relations and have cooperated in economic, transportation, infrastructure development, and energy sectors. The two nations have historic ties, with Turkmenistan having once been a part of ancient Persia and Greater Iran.
context_section_description: The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway link is a part of the North–South Transport Corridor and is a 677 km (421 mi) long railway line connecting Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan with Iran and the Persian Gulf. It links Uzen in Kazakhstan with Bereket - Etrek in Turkmenistan and ends at Gorgan in Iran's Golestan province. In Iran, the railway will be linked to national network making its way to the ports of the Persian Gulf.
  This project is part of the Ashgabat agreement, which is a Multimodal transport agreement signed by India, Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
  The project is estimated to cost $620m which is being jointly funded by the governments of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
  The project also aims to create a multimodal transport system to provide seamless connectivity in the region for passenger travel as well. The North-South Transnational Corridor will run up to 137 km (85 mi) in Kazakhstan, 470 km (292 mi) in Turkmenistan and 70 km (43 mi) in Iran.
  Work in Turkmenistan commenced in Bereket in December 2007 and in Kazakhstan in July 2009.
  A 311 km (193 mi) section between Bereket and Buzhan in Turkmenistan is being financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). A  memorandum of understanding was signed between ADB and the Turkmenistan government in February 2010, for a $350m loan as a special fund for technical assistance. The project loan was for the installation of signalling and communication equipment on the ongoing railway line, procurement of equipment and maintenance facilities, consulting, and for the management and supervision of construction. The project also received a loan of $371.2m from the Islamic Development Bank in July 2010.
  In May 2013, a 311 km (193 mi) Bereket – Uzen section of the 677 km (421 mi) North-South Railway Corridor was completed. 
  In February 2014, 256 km (159 mi) long section between Bereket and Etrek was completed. Currently railway stations along the new railway are being constructed.
  The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway link will be officially inaugurated in October 2014.
  Bereket city (Kazandzhik) is strategically important railway intersection of the Trans-Caspian Railway (Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and eastern Kazakhstan) and North-South Transnational Railway. The city has a large locomotive repair depot and a modern passenger railway station.
caption: Bereket city is an important crossroad of the Trans-Caspian Railway and North-South Transnational Railway.
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