ECO’s activities to establish regional connectivity
The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an intergovernmental regional organisation with the main purpose to promote multi-dimensional regional cooperation, socio-economic growth and development in its member states. Ten ECO Member States i.e. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan with about 440 million population (2013) and more than 8 million square km of territories are located at the heart of the Euro-Asia land-mass and connect trade and transport corridors in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The ECO strategy for the transport and communications sector relies mainly on developing the essential road and rail links and corridors to interconnect the Member States and the region to neighbouring regions. Measures are being taken to build a sustainable transport and communications infrastructure that facilitates the movement of passengers and goods through the member countries; ensures their safety with minimal delays during transit and addresses the related customs issues.
UIC is closely cooperating with the Economic Cooperation Organization through the application of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2012 in Doha, Qatar.
ECO’s railway corridor oriented activities
- ECO Container Train on Istanbul-Almaty and Bandar Abbas-Almaty routes
Measures for regular operation of container trains along the Istanbul-Almaty and Bandar Abbas-Almaty routes are being coordinated by High Level Working Groups (HLWG) established for this purpose to discuss major technical and operational issues.
The train services along Istanbul-Almaty are operational since 2002. As regards the Bandar Abbas-Almaty route, the train services started operating soon after the demonstration run of container trains in October 2011.
The timetables and tariffs have been agreed to be applied along both routes.
As regards the legal framework, noting that all countries en route Bandar Abbas-Almaty are members of OSJD, the OSJD rules and regulations was decided to be applicable along the route.
The lack of cargo is considered among major challenges to keep regular train services along the routes. Consolidation of cargoes coming from different routes through the territory of Iran and forwarding them onward Almaty was decided as one of solutions for mobilisation of cargo for the routes.
- ECO Container Train on Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul (ITI) route
Completion of “Kerman – Bam – Zahedan” Railway with the length of 540 km in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran enabled to interconnect Pakistan, Iran and Turkey and provided new corridor opportunities for the enroute countries.
As soon as this missing link has been made, ECO Transport Ministers of three en route countries got together to discuss and agree on future joint actions to put the route into operation. Negotiations under ECO’s umbrella resulted in the launch of train services in August 2010.
To facilitate the timely dispatch of trains in both directions the Zahedan Station of Iran (at border of Pakistan) has been equipped with transshipment facilities and measures to resolve the sand dune issue has been taken by Iran along its territory.
Based on the good will of three countries to promote the train services the unified and reduced tariffs were agreed and the total travel time of the container train from Islamabad to Haydarpasa (Turkey) was to be shortened by up to 15.5 days.
Joint efforts of ECO and OTIF Secretariats to bring all three countries under a common legal regime resulted in the accession of Pakistan to COTIF (2013) to make the application of CIM consignment note possible along the whole route, where Iran and Turkey are already active users of COTIF regulations.
It is worthy to note that despite all measures to put the train services on the right track, the train services have been stopped and not resumed yet.
Currently, ECO is in touch with the en route countries to resume the train services.
Note: Regional Policy Dialogue on Strengthening Transport Connectivity of UNESCAP’s South and South West Asia Office (New Delhi, November 2014) noted ITI among important rail corridors which may be extended to Dhaka through Delhi and Kolkata railway and could be effective with minimum investments as the infrastructural links already exists.
- Railway between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran
Among the recent developments is the inauguration of the railway between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran (December 2014) which completed the aspired North-South Corridor providing new opportunities for the landlocked counties of Central Asia to reach open seas. The railway may also be used for the export of Iranian goods/food destined to Russia through Kazakhstan.
In the context of significance of this railway for the region, IDB was approached for the possibility of providing financial support to help the en route countries to commercialise the new route.
It is expected that the Project will help the railway sector, logistic industry and business community of the en-route MCs to create a transnational mechanism for coordinated management of the route and will enable member countries to enhance freight carriage capacity through their territories and refund expenditures entailed by the project and subsequently increase revenue. It is hoped that the study will serve as the “ECO’s corridor management model” for other existing ECO routes.
The route coincides with the concept of establishment of “Silk Road Economic Belt”.
As the media reported, on 28 January 2016 a container train starting from Iu (China) crossed Alashankow border crossing point and reached Iran (Tehran) through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan within 16 days which shows the existing potential of the route.
- Railway Project for the connection of China to Europe through Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran (KTAI)
The ECO Secretariat is conducting the necessary coordination for the railway project connecting China to Europe through Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
Notably, the feasibility study in the territory of Tajikistan has already been completed with the technical assistance of Iran. In the territory of Afghanistan as the first phase, the feasibility study of KTAI railroad (about 300 KM) is being conducted and the second phase from Mazar-e-Sharif to Kunduz and Sherkhan Bandar with Tajik border (about 210 KM) is also expected to be completed. 60% of the KTAI route in the territory of Afghanistan will be completed once these studies are finalised. The Kyrgyz Republic approached a Chinese company to undertake the feasibility study in its territory and the study is due to be completed in 2016. The Sangan-Khaf segment in the territory of Iran has been completed which is the part of the KTAI railway intended to connect Iran and Afghanistan by rail.
Consultations with the relevant authorities of Tajikistan are underway to organise the second Ministerial Meeting on KTAI in the second half of 2016.
- Railway Project on Qazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) route
The Project is being coordinated by ECO in the light of its significance in making up the missing link along the internationally recognised North-South Corridor where a significant portion of the Corridor falls on the territory of Russia and, notably runs from the Finnish border along Russia’s railways towards the Caspian Sea (about 3,000 km), and through western branch of the Corridor between Astrakhan-Makhachkala-Samur enters Azerbaijan border at Yalama.
In the territories of Iran and Azerbaijan the railway has three parts. Two parts, namely Qazvin-Rasht and Rasht-Astara with a total length of about 369 km are located in Iran, and one part (less than 10 km) is located in Azerbaijan. Two field visits were organised in 2013 by Iran Railways inviting the Embassies of ECO MSs and Finland, Norway and Russia (November 2013) to visit the construction sites. The field visits provided an excellent opportunity to become familiar with the considerable developments at Qazvin-Rasht segment (205 km). The Rasht-Astara segment (164 km) starting from Rasht station and passing the towns of Rezvanshar and Hashtpar to reach Astara (Iran)-Astara (Azerbaijan) border is located in the area used by agrarians, between the mountains and the Caspian Sea. Negotiations between the Governments of Azerbaijan and Iran are underway to attract investment to complete this missing link.
The main advantages of the Corridor compared to other routes (via the Suez Canal) is that it reduces the distance by half and even more and thus considerably reducing the cost of transporting containers from Germany or Finland to India.
To read more about ECO’s activities for strengthening transport connectivity and facilitation of transit in the ECO region, please click on this link:
www.uic.org/com/IMG/pdf/presentation-rame_meeting.pdf
(Source: ECO)
