Dr. M. Pour Seyed Aqaei, Managing Director of Raja Passenger Trains Company

Many believe Iran is located on the crossroads of East-West trade. They believe Iran can easily serve as an international transit corridor. They believe in the revival of the Silk Road. But these beliefs can only become a reality if Iran’s transportation can meet heavy trade demands.

This is where world-class transportation companies, such as Raja Passenger Trains Company come in. What follows are the viewpoints of the Dr. Mohsen Pour Seyed Aqaei on how he plans to lead his company into the future.

Dr. Mohsen Pour Seyed Aqaei, is the chairman of the board of directors and the managing director of Raja Passenger Trains Company. He has announced that a great development in providing better rail services was in the works, as the recently bought train sets were to become operational early next year (March 2004).

Regarding the improvement of services inside the trains he noted that ceding such affairs to the private sector had increased supervision over stewards. "Since trains belong to the people, those working in them must consider themselves as public servants. The feedback we have had from people and officials indicate their satisfaction with our services, which of course does not mean that there are no problems and our services must become more refined," he noted.

Pour Seyed Aqaei referred to launching private trains and added that after the inauguration of Simorgh, Sabz (Green) and Delijan train services in cooperation with the private sector, the contract for launching the first private Tehran-Kerman train was signed with Joupar Company. He noted that the company had received its wagons from Pars Wagon Company and the train would be launched soon.

"Meanwhile Tabriz-Mashhad and Tehran-Tabriz trains are being refurbished by the private sector and would come on-stream by the year-end. We have also received eight applications for purchasing wagons from the private sector, which are being studied," he noted.

The official went on to note that Raja Passenger Trains Company was to receive 50 wagons from Pars Wagon Company during the current year and 150 wagons had been purchased from abroad that would be delivered according to an agreement between Iranian and Chinese banks.

"A tender bid for purchasing 150 double-decker wagons is underway. Based on our projections, we would be transporting 36 million passengers through government support by 1388 (2009-2010)," he said.

The managing director of Raja Passenger Trains Company referred to signing an agreement for the purchase of 40 three-car railbuses from Iran Khodro Company adding that the company had succeeded to increase the number of passengers from 9.5 million four years ago to 16 million during the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2003).

Raja Passenger Trains Company was established as a totally state-run enterprise 100% of whose stocks belonged to the Islamic Republic of Iran Railroads in 1996 with the goal of quantitative and qualitative upgrading of passenger transport services. The company’s policy includes better use of facilities, increasing efficiency and providing better services to develop overall rail services. Continuation of this policy in line with the government’s development policies has had remarkable consequences. The company is considering plans for bolstering its fleet, technical activities, launching international trains and developing its project, which include:

During the post-revolution period up to the end of the Iranian calendar year 1380 (2001-02) a total of 605 wagons were purchased from inside and outside the country; however, only 149 wagons were new and the rest were secondhand. At present, only 937 wagons including 786 passenger and 151 service wagons are usable and 255 wagons ageing more than 40 years are unusable.

Other technical and repair activities carried out by the company include:

• Manufacturing steam generating wagons for the first time in history of Iranian railroads;

• Manufacturing electricity generating wagons for the first time in the history of Iranian railroads;

• Design and manufacture of automobile carrying wagons;

• Design and manufacture of more than 2,000 parts needed by wagons;

• Implementation of over 300 projects for design and manufacture of parts for passenger wagons.

• Purchasing 200 passenger wagons from Pars Wagon Company;

• Purchasing 138 first-rate and modern passenger wagons and 12 restaurant wagons from abroad;

• Purchasing 25 electricity generators from abroad;

• Purchasing 30 passenger locomotives from abroad;

• Follow-up for purchasing 60 train sets by the Islamic Republic of Iran Railroads;

• Developing local trains by purchasing 30 railbuses;

• Attracting domestic and foreign investments for developing passenger fleet;

• Basic repairs on 500 passenger wagons, 350 service wagons and 50 steam generating wagons;

• Constructing new wagon houses in Tehran and other cities for maintenance and repair of passenger wagons and improvement of workshops in Tehran, Mashhad and Ahvaz;

• Developing parts design and manufacture programs for passenger wagons inside the country;

• Developing travelers’ facilities and services;

• Development, optimization and equipment of stations with escalators, elevators, x-ray and so on;

• Establishment of online ticket sales system;

• Increasing speed of trains to over 160 km/h;

• Inaugurating Tehran-Isfahan express trains at a speed of 250 km/h.