Iran has completed a key railway line connecting the southern port of Chabahar with Zahedan near its border with Afghanistan, amid a US blockade of its ports and mounting economic pressure from the West.

The 730-km rail link will give Tehran more flexibility to move cargo to neighboring countries from the port, which is being developed by India, RT correspondent Saman Kojouri reports.

The railway is a key link in the strategic International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which is backed by India, Iran, and Russia. Iran’s broader ambition is to connect its southern ports to transport networks connecting the Caspian Sea and beyond, operationalizing a vast land corridor for market access across Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Russia.

The Chabahar route would be 40% shorter and 30% cheaper than the existing Suez Canal route for moving cargo. The line, which has 39 tunnels, 201 bridges, and 33 stations, is expected to become operational in the next 2-3 months. It can also move about 7 million tons of cargo and 1 million passengers annually.

The route will allow India to bypass the territory of arch-rival Pakistan, although sanctions and blockades remain a challenge. However, New Delhi and Tehran are actively engaged in smoothing out customs, logistics, and operational issues to maximize the line’s commercial potential.

”Central Asia and Russia are closer to India if we take the land routes,” former Indian Ambassador to Iran D.P. Srivastava told RT. He pointed out that India lost that connectivity after partition when Pakistan became a hostile neighbor.

Transit volumes through Chabahar are already up tenfold in the last few months compared to the same period a year ago, the CEO of the Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone, Mohammad Saeed Arbabi, told RT. The new railway line will further increase transit volumes, creating new opportunities in investment, manufacturing, exports, and re-exports, and thus reinforcing the port’s role as a key transit hub, he said.

He noted that although military tensions with the US have reduced shipping activity, India has not withdrawn from the port project. “India remains actively involved,” Arbabi said, adding “we welcome investment from all countries except hostile nations [in the port project].”

According to Arbabi, cooperation with Pakistan and Afghanistan remains strong, with activity expanding beyond previous levels.