Transportation:

Overview:
Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for all kinds of transportation. The Ministry by itself has got five important sub-sectors as follows which undertake implementation and operation of transport infrastructures:

• Company for Construction and Expansion of Transport Infrastructures
• Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization 
• The Railways Company of the Islamic Republic of Iran 
• Ports and Maritime Organization 
• Civil Aviation Organization

- Considering the key role of transportation in economic development of the country especially foreign trade and transit operation, Islamic Republic of Iran approved in 2000 its general policies in transportation sector with focus on the following priorities:
- Establishment of transport system and regulating portion of each sub- sector through giving priority to the rail transportation and with regard to the following aspects: 
• Economic considerations
• Decrease in energy consumption  
• Decrease in environmental pollution 
• Increase of safety 
• Balancing between infrastructures and fleet, navigation equipment and demand 
• Increase in productivity at the highest level through promoting transport modes and management and human resources and information.
-According to the country’s fifth Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP), the Iranian government allocated approximately $34 billion to the transportation sector in 2010. With renewed interest in connecting international points by land, sea, and air, the government had utilized about 80% of these funds by 2012. 
-The amount of cargo and passengers traveling along these routes has increased significantly in the past decade, with airline companies seeing some of the largest growth. In 2011, 27 million travelers and businesspeople passed customs, and the government surpassed its passenger and cargo targets by over 100%. 
-Rail and road networks are being focused on as the key for a streamlined transport corridor from east to west, and in 2012 there has been an increase in the number and quality of a variety of valuable connection routes both throughout the country and extending beyond its borders. 
-Sea freight capacity has steadily increased since 2009, on a growth pattern that has been accelerated by better quality services and faster loading and unloading times. By 2011, Iran’s TEU handling capacity reached 2.8 million, up from 1.7 million TEUs in 2007. Over the same period, passenger traffic by sea displayed 21% growth, making Iran an increasingly accessible destination for 
a variety of both new and loyal markets.

Models of Transportation:
1- Road Transport
-In total, Iran’s road network covers a distance of 180,958 kilometers, with 9,124 kilometers of paved highways and freeways. In 2011, the government launched projects to construct 6,500 kilometers of additional roads, many of them designed to enhance the travel experience beetween major international cities and Tehran, as well as cut transportation costs and times. 
- Islamic Republic of Iran has given a priority to construct, rehabilitate and upgrade the existing roads of Asian Highway Network and has made noticeable measures in this regard.
-Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has paied attention to public- private partnership in construction and completion of transport infrastructure projects. In road sector, many freeways, highways projects are being constructed or rehabilitated on BOT, Partnership or other methods.

2- Railway Transport:

- The rail network of the Islamic Republic of Iran is connected to middle East and Europe railways from West (Razi border), to Azerbaijan railway from North West (Jolfa border), to Caspian sea and ports of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia from North (ports of Amirabad, Neka and Turkmenistan), to Central Asian, Russia and China railways from North East (Sarakhs border), to Pakistan railway from South East (Mirjaveh border) and to Persian Gulf and open seas of the world from South (Bandar Abbas and Imam Khomeini ports).

3- Civil Aviation :

-In civil aviation sector, there are 54 airport in the country ,which 8 of them are international - Iran Air is the national carrier. Today, the company services 6 million passengers per year, many of them flying on one of the 100 daily domestic flights to 28 destinations.  - Domestic passenger traffic has increased by an average of 7% over the last 10 years, and at the same time international air travel in Iran has grown by a robust 9% per year, which is far above the world average.this growth trend will continue for at least the next few years. With 3,300 employees and growing, the expansion of the business may lead to a bright future.

4- MaritimeTransportation:
-promotion of capacity of ports of Chabahar and Shahid Rajaee in South and Amirabad in North as well as establishment of shipping lines in the region are among measures taken in the framework of transport cooperation vision which shall deeply affect transportation and trade in Asia and the Pacific.Ports of Shahid Rajaee, Amirabad and Anzali enjoy outstanding location in transit route of the North- South corridor. In addition, ports of Imam Khomeini, Shahid Bahonar, Lengeh, Boushehr, Chabahar and Noshahr have got their own unique potentials.
-The nominal capacity of commercial ports grew to over 150 million tons in 2010-2011, marking an increase of 5.6% over the previous period. 
Leading this growth is Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main container port in the country and largest hub in the Persian Gulf. In 2010, the port’s cargo ally and 52traffic reached 2.5 million TEUs, accounting for nearly 95% of the country’s total TEU handling activity. In addition, the port accounted for 37% of the country’s total transit traffic in 2011.

5- Transit Operation:
-Islamic Republic of Iran has targeted in transit sector in a way that it shall reach to figure of 40 million tons of goods by the end of Fifth Economic Development Program (2015).