InterRail, the international rail service provider headquartered in Sankt Gallen, Switzerland, is further expanding its portfolio of services to and from Iran: In close cooperation with sister companies from the TransInvest Group, the Moscow-based Russian InterRail unit OOO InterRail Service provides wagon and container transports along the North South corridor Russia-Iran.
Among others, InterRail Russia also offers an interesting solution for container transports from and to Iran using InterRail-owned container wagons. Container transports between Russia and Iran are routed via Astara, Azerbaijan. The container railcars are parked on the private railway siding of the Azersped terminal (a sister company of InterRail) in Astara while the containers are then hauled by truck to the consignee in Iran.
In a test run, empty tank containers were loaded onto container railcars in Nizhnekamsk, Russia, and carried to Astara, Azerbaijan. From there, Azersped trucked the empty tank containers to Tabriz, Iran, where they were filled with liquid petrochemicals and taken back to Astara by the same trucks. On board the container railcars parked there, the tank containers were then shipped back by rail from Astara to the consignee in Nizhnekamsk.
Another example is the transport of chemicals from Uralsk (Kazakhstan) to Mashad (Iran).Shipments of chemicals from Uralsk, Kazakhstan, to Mashad, Iran, can serve as another example. The 2,000-kilometer transport was routed via the new border crossing point Ak-Yayla, Turkmenistan / Inche Borum, Iran, where the covered railcars-axles were exchanged: Once the CIS broad gauge axles are replaced with Iranian, normal gauge ones, the wagons can reach their final destination without the cargo being transshipped. After the wagons had arrived at Mashad, InterRail returned the empty railcars back to Kazakhstan.
In offering such products, InterRail benefits from the extensive network of the TransInvest Group, which has a strong presence in Russia, the CIS/Central Asia and Iran. Moreover, owing to its own wagon fleet as well as additional, long-term leasing contracts for open top and covered freight cars, for container carriers and special wagons, InterRail can meet its customers’ requirements fast and in a flexible way.
Depending on seasonal fluctuations and the market situation, InterRail controls and markets about 1,000 company-owned and leased freight cars of all different types.
