Iran cuts rail export costs to Uzbekistan by 20% using domestic wagons
Iran has exported goods to Uzbekistan for the first time using Iranian rail wagons, a move that has cut rail transport costs to the Central Asian country by at least 20%, a rail official said on Monday.
Mostafa Nassiri Varag, director general of Khorasan Railways, told IRNA that the first shipment using Iranian wagons was dispatched last week from the Sarakhs rail route in Iran’s northeastern Razavi Khorasan Province, transiting Turkmenistan before entering the Uzbek city of Bukhara.
The move marks the implementation of a trilateral railway agreement between Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on transporting and exporting goods with Iranian wagons.
“Previously, goods were exported to Turkmenistan using Iranian wagons. Now, with the launch of rail shipments from Sarakhs to Bukhara in Uzbekistan, Iranian wagons have also begun operating in that country,” he said, adding that the move signals lower-cost exports to Central Asian countries.
Nassiri Varag said Iranian exports had previously been transported using rail fleets from Central Asian countries and Russia, a practice that increased transport costs for Iranian traders.
According to him, more than 7,000 foreign wagons were used across Khorasan Railways, particularly at the Sarakhs border rail station and Shahid Motahhari rail station, during the first nine months of the current Persian calendar year (starting on March 21), representing a 26% decline compared with the same period last year.
“However, in this period, rail exports from Razavi Khorasan grew by nearly 60%, showing that, despite reduced loading by foreign fleets, the exports continued successfully with the use of more cost‑effective Iranian wagons,” he said.
The Sarakhs rail and road customs terminal, located in the far northeastern region of Iran in Razavi Khorasan Province, 185 kilometers northeast of Mashhad and bordering Turkmenistan, is considered one of Iran’s key gateways for foreign trade and transit, particularly with Central Asian countries. The Shahid Motahhari railway station is located 50 kilometers south of Mashhad, in the Razaviyeh district, along the Mashhad–Fariman road.