Railway between Palu and Genc, which was closed on 15th of December and increased the congestion in Iran traffic was opened at the beginning of this month.

Closure was about the reconstruction of Palu-Genc-Mus railway since the route is passing through the basin of 4 new dams under construction on Murat River. The railway is opened after connection of new section to national network and completion of checks.

Due to the closure of line for 17 days, especially freight trains to/from Iran have been affected. Lots of wagons had stopped in that region. Due to this congestion, new loads to Iran were subject to the permission of TCDD. Due to the low capacity of current ferries on Van Lake, the congestion is expected to last for a while.

Better solution for this congestion will be the new ferries under construction. First ferry is now on water, and after furnishing, it’s planned to start trials on May 2015. The capacity of Iran route will be much better with these new ferries.

The project of reconstruction of 114 km long “Palu-Genc-Mus” section had started on December 2011. The new line is being constucted parallel to the old one, 100 mt over the basin of river. The project worths 1.6 billion TL (USD 700m). 600m has been spent until now. 150m is budgeted in 2015. Project is planned to be completed by 2017. Tender is open for this new section and offers are being accepted till 21st of Jan 2015.

Translation : Onur Uysal