Transport in Iran

thumb|right|250px|Major routes and railroads of Iran. [[Tehran is the hub of Iran's transport and communication system.]]

Transport in Iran is inexpensive because of the government's subsidization of the price of gasoline. The downside is a huge draw on government coffers, economic inefficiency because of highly wasteful consumption patterns, contraband with neighboring countries and air pollution.

Iran has a long paved road system linking most of its towns and all of its cities.

Trains operate on 11,106 km (6,942 mi) of railroad track. The country's major port of entry is Bandar-Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz. After arriving in Iran, imported goods are distributed throughout the country by trucks and freight trains. The Tehran–Bandar-Abbas railroad, opened in 1995, connects Bandar-Abbas to the railroad system of Central Asia via Tehran and Mashhad. Other major ports include Bandar e-Anzali and Bandar e-Torkeman on the Caspian Sea and Khorramshahr and Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni on the Persian Gulf.

Dozens of cities have airports that serve passenger and cargo planes. Iran Air, the national airline, was founded in 1962 and operates domestic and international flights.

Ministry of Road and Transportation

The Ministry of Roads and Transportation is in charge of studying and deciding pricing policy of the transportation; as well as issuing licenses for the establishment of transportation firms. In addition, the Ministry is in charge of implementing comprehensive and integrated transportation policies in Iran. As of 2016, plans for foreign direct investment in the transport sector include over 5,600 km of highways, 745 km of freeways, and close to 3,000 km of main roads. These projects and others are worth $25 billion (not including aircraft purchases worth another $50 billion).

Railways

thumb|Railway system map (2020)|right

Total: 11,106 km

Railway links with adjacent countries

In December 2014, a rail line from Iran opened to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The opening of the line marks the first direct rail link between Iran, Kazakhstan and China and upon completion direct rail transport between China and Europe (while avoiding Russia) will be possible.

Afghanistan – completed in 2020.
Azerbaijan – break-of-gauge / (Only to Nakhichevan, planned link to Azerbaijan proper for building Russia-Iran corridor)
Armenia – planned – break of gauge /
Iraq – part under construction, part planned.
one long link from Arak via Kermanshah to Baghdad
one short link of about 50 km links Khorramshahr to Basra and is due for completion in 2006.
Pakistan – break-of-gauge / - missing link from Bam to Zahedan completed 2009.
Turkey – via Lake Van – train ferry -
Turkmenistan – break-of-gauge /

Couplings, brakes and electrification

Couplers – SA3 and buffers
Brakes – air
Electrification – 25 kV AC

Rapid transit

thumb|[[Veresk Bridge]]

Tehran Metro

The Tehran Metro is a rapid transit system in Tehran carrying 5 million passengers a day and consisting of seven lines that run a total of 200 kilometres (~120 mi) with two further lines under construction. The metro will have a final length of 430 kilometres (270 mi) once all nine lines are constructed by 2028. Metro services run from 5:30 to 23:00 throughout the city and the ticket price is 3,000-8,000 IRR ($0.10-$0.30 USD) and is based on distance of the trip.

thumb|[[Tehran Metro]]

Tehran Bus Rapid Transit

The Tehran Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a rapid transit system serving Tehran which was officially inaugurated in 2008. The BRT has a network of over 150 kilometres, transporting 1.8 million passengers on a daily basis. The BRT has a total of ten lines with a further expansion planned to bring the total length to 300 kilometres. The price of Tehran's BRT is somewhere between 4,000IRR to 9,500IRR ($0.15 to $0.35 USD).

Mashhad Urban Railway

The Mashhad Urban Railway is urban rail line in Mashhad, construction on line one began in 1999 and was opened on 24 April 2011. Line two has also been opened recently and finished construction. Four other lines are either being constructed or are planned to be. Mashhad Urban Railway operates its single line from 6:30 to 21:30 daily. It has a daily ridership of 130,000 passengers and has a total length of 24 kilometres (14.9 mi).

Isfahan Metro

The Isfahan Metro construction of line one commenced in 2001 and was finally opened to the public on 15 October 2015. Line one has a total length of 11 kilometres. The city is planning a second East to West line.

Shiraz Metro

The Shiraz Metro is a rapid transit system in Shiraz. Line one was officially inaugurated on 11 October 2014 after being in construction since 2011; the single line has a length of 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) and stops at six stations. Line 2 is currently under construction and has a length of 15 kilometres (9.3 mi). The metro currently has a daily ridership of 500 000 passengers with 27 trains in operation.

Tabriz Metro

The Tabriz Metro is a metro system serving the city of Tabriz. The first line was opened on 28 August 2015 with a 7-kilometre length and six stations. There is also a regional commuter line planned to the city of Sahand. Line one runs Northwest from El Goli Station to Noor Station.

Total Length

The total route length of the various Metros is 253 km.

Roadways and automobiles

In 2011 the country had of roads, of which 73% were paved. In 2008 there were nearly 100 passenger cars for every 1,000 inhabitants.

Total: 172,927 km (2006)

:*Paved: 125,908 km (includes 1,429 km of expressways)

:*Unpaved: 47,019 km

Note: There were more than 11 million vehicles in Iran by 2010 mostly manufactured or assembled locally. As of 2020, bicycles were used for less than 1% of urban trips.

Road accidents

Iran ranks 23rd worldwide in traffic deaths per 100,000 population per year, with a rate of 24.3, half the rate of the worst country, Eritrea. Iran ranks first worldwide in terms of having the largest number of road accidents with 38,000 deaths and injuries per year. Other sources place the total number of fatalities at 100,000 over the past six years or 20,000 per year on average (2008).

Transport officials say 46.8% of car accidents take place in cities, 21.5% outside, 19.5% on rural routes, 4.2% on urban highways and 4.2% on suburban highways. Pedestrians account for 45% of traffic deaths in Tehran.

The high death tolls in car accidents are blamed on high speed, unsafe vehicles, widespread disregard of traffic laws and inadequate emergency services.

Motorcycles account for 50% of sound pollution in Tehran and 40-45% of accidents.

Waterways

There are no major rivers in Iran. Just Karun is navigable which "shallow-draft boats can negotiate from Khorramshahr to Ahvaz, a distance of about 180 km (110 mi)". The Shatt al-Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic for about 130 km; channel has been dredged to 3 m and is in use.

Pipelines

thumb|[[Iran Gas Trunkline]]

Condensate 7 km; condensate/gas 12 km; gas 19,246 km; liquid petroleum gas 570 km; oil 7,018 km; refined products 7,936 km (2008)

All Iranian ports are supervised by the 'PMO', i.e. the 'Port & Maritime Organization', which is part of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.

All ports: Abadan (largely destroyed in fighting during 1980–1988 war), Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Bandar-e Anzali (Caspian Sea), Bushehr, Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni, Bandar-e Lengeh, Bandar-e Mahshahr, Bandar-e Torkaman (Caspian Sea), Chabahar (Bandar-e Beheshti), Kharg Island, Lavan Island, Sirri Island, Khorramshahr (limited operation since November 1992), Noshahr (Caspian Sea), Arvand Kenar, Chabahar Port.
Main: Bandar-e Eman Khomeyni,
Major Export Terminals (loading capacity): Kharg Island , Lavan Island , Neka (Caspian Sea) , Assaluyeh gas liquids, Kish Island, Abadan, Bandar-e Eman Khomeyni) and Bandar Mahshahr (latter 2 close-by ports are used mostly by NPC for petrochemicals export).
Major Oil/Gas Ports:
Lavan Island, mostly handles exports of the Lavan Blend sourced from offshore fields. Lavan is Iran's highest-quality export grade and one of Iran's smallest streams. Lavan's production averaged less than 100,000 bbl/d in 2013, but the Lavan facilities have the capacity to process 200,000 bbl/d of crude oil. Lavan has a two-berth jetty, which can accommodate vessels up to 250,000 deadweight tons. Lavan's storage capacity is 5.5 million barrels.
By type: bulk carrier 8, cargo 51, chemical tanker 3, container 4, liquefied gas 1, passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 2, refrigerated cargo 2, roll on/roll off 2
Foreign-owned: 2 (UAE 2)
Registered in other countries: 71 (Barbados 5, Cyprus 10, Hong Kong 3, Malta 48, Panama 5) (2010)

Over the next two decades, Iran would need 500 new ships, including 120 oil tankers, 40 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and over 300 commercial vessels.

Airports and airlines

thumb|[[List of airports in Iran|Airports in Iran]]

thumb|right|[[Iran Air Boeing 747SP at Narita International Airport]]

Iran handles about 50 million passengers annually (2016). In May 2007 international flights into the capital, Tehran, were moved to the Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA), just outside the city because of capacity constraints at the existing central Mehrabad Airport.

Airports: 319 (2013)
Number of flights from airports nationwide reached 31,088 in a month (October 20 – November 20, 2008): 10,510 domestic, 4,229 international and 15,404 transit.
Airport capacity for departures and arrivals: 73 million persons (2011)
Number of passengers departing and arriving at airports: 40.1 million persons (2011)
Over five million passengers have been transported via border points mainly Mehran and Bazargan.
In 2002, about 70% of visitors arrived by land, about 29% by air and less than 1% by sea
In 2009, the value of goods transited was about $25 billion. This figure constitutes 7% of the GDP.
From March 22, 2009 until September 22, 2009 over 3 million tons of goods worth some $11.3 billion were transited through Iran. Regarding the countries of origin, China was first in terms of volume, Turkmenistan ranked second, Uzbekistan came third, Turkey fourth, and the United Arab Emirates fifth. Among the destinations, Afghanistan was first, Iraq second, Azerbaijan third, the UAE fourth, and Turkmenistan ranked fifth.
Some 33 million tons of goods and 29 million passengers are transported annually by the rail transportation network, accounting for 9% and 11% of the whole transportations in the country (2011).
Per capita parcel post for each Iranian stands at 15 per annum (2008).
One million tons of commodities, fuel and barter have been transited abroad per month (2008).
Fuel is transported in Iran by road tankers, tank wagons, tanker ships as well as through pipelines. Nearly 10,000 tankers from 400 private sector companies transport fuel by road. In 2013, nearly 87 billion liters of fuel were transported by Iranian tankers. Iran's tank wagons and ships transported 3 billion liters and 8 billion liters of fuel, respectively.
3.498 million tons of non-oil commodities were transited abroad via Iran during March 20-November 20, 2008 (79% of the commodities were transited by road).

Mode of transport

More than 90% of the country's imports and exports, particularly in the fisheries and oil sectors, are undertaken through the sea (2009).
In 2008, 84% of the transited goods through Iran were transported through roads while the rest was transported via railroad.

Port of entry

In 2011, Bandar Abbas was the country's most active border in terms of transit (37%), followed by Parvizkhan (17%), Bazargan (9%) and Bashmaq (7%).