FIRST TRAIN ON ISLAMABAD-TEHRAN-ISTANBUL RAILWAY ARRIVES IN TURKEY
VAN - A freight train, which departed from the Pakistani city of Islamabad to test the newly established 6,500-km railway between Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, arrived in the eastern province of Van on Tuesday.
The railway line, which was recently constructed between Islamabad, Tehran and Istanbul, aims at connecting members of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to each other.
The first freight train that travelled on the railway departed from Pakistan on August 14 for the Iranian capital of Tehran and then proceeded to Turkey.
A number of Turkish, Iranian and Pakistani railway officials were on board the train that arrived in Van's Saray town early on Tuesday.
Commenting on the train's arrival, Muhammed Atilcan from Turkish Railways (TCDD) said that the new railway connected Pakistan to Europe via Iran and Turkey.
Atilcan also said that the train journey from Islamabad to Istanbul took nearly 13 days while travelling from European countries to Pakistan via seaway took almost 40-45 days.
The Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul railway project aims at boosting economic cooperation among Pakistan, Iran and Turkey at the first stage and with the other ECO member countries afterwards.
Nearly 2,500 km of the railway passes from the Iranian territory.
