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The Trans-Iranian Railway was a major railway building project started in 1927 and finished in 1939, under the direction of the Persian monarch, Reza Shah
Reza Shah

'Reza Shah, also Reza Shah Pahlavi , , was the Shah of Iran from December 15, 1925 until he was forced to Abdication by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in September 16, 1941....
, to construct a basic network of railways joining the capital Tehran
Tehran

Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Alborz mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia....
 to the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes Persian Gulf naming dispute referred to as the Arabian Gulf by certain Arab countries or simply The Gulf, although nei...
 and the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the List of lakes by area or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometers and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometers ....
. The Trans-Iranian Railway was built entirely with local capital. Trans-Iranian Railway is 1394 kilometers (865 miles) long.

The first lines passed though formidable mountains, and international construction firms were heavily involved in the construction.






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The Trans-Iranian Railway was a major railway building project started in 1927 and finished in 1939, under the direction of the Persian monarch, Reza Shah
Reza Shah

'Reza Shah, also Reza Shah Pahlavi , , was the Shah of Iran from December 15, 1925 until he was forced to Abdication by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in September 16, 1941....
, to construct a basic network of railways joining the capital Tehran
Tehran

Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Alborz mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia....
 to the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes Persian Gulf naming dispute referred to as the Arabian Gulf by certain Arab countries or simply The Gulf, although nei...
 and the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the List of lakes by area or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometers and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometers ....
. The Trans-Iranian Railway was built entirely with local capital. Trans-Iranian Railway is 1394 kilometers (865 miles) long.

The first lines passed though formidable mountains, and international construction firms were heavily involved in the construction. Gradients up to 1 in 36 were required, plus hill climbing
Hillclimbing (railway)

While railways have a great ability to haul very heavy loads, this advantage only really applies when the tracks are fairly level. As soon as the Grade stiffen, the tonnage that can be hauled is greatly diminished....
 techniques such as spiral
Spiral (railway)

A spiral is a technique employed by railways to ascend steep hills.A railway spiral rises on a steady curve until it has completed a 360-degree loop, passing over itself as it gains height, allowing the railway to gain vertical elevation in a relatively short horizontal distance....
 railroads were required.

Engineering and Geological challenges


All sorts of geological problems were encountered, which required abandonment of some tunnels, and realignment of the route through different terrain:
  • a tunnel through a salt dome
    Salt dome

    A salt dome is a type of Dome formed when a thick bed of evaporite minerals found at depth intrudes vertically into surrounding rock Stratum, forming a diapir....
     had to be abandoned, since the disrupted water table would erode away the salt.
  • a tunnel was started through apparently solid rock encountered powdery gypsum
    Gypsum

    Gypsum is a very soft mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula calciumsulfuroxygen4?2water....
    , which filled the excavation as fast as it was dug out - another abandoned tunnel.
  • a tunnel through pumice
    Pumice

    File:Pumice stone444.jpgFile:Pumice stone detail444.jpgPumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano....
     was unblastable and un-digable since the picks and shovels got stuck.
  • a tunnel encountered a large "void" or cavern in the mountain, requiring a bridge in the middle of the tunnel.
  • poor fresh water supplies made mixing of long-lasting mortar
    Mortar (masonry)

    Mortar is a workable paste formed by mixture of cement, water and fine aggregate masonry to bind construction blocks together and fill the gaps between them....
     and concrete problematic.
  • large bridges like the Veresk Bridge
    Veresk Bridge

    The Veresk bridge in Iran was constructed during the reign of Reza Shah. It is located in Veresk district of Savad Kooh county, in Mazandaran province....
     were unavoidable crossing the Alborz
    Alborz

    Alborz , also written as Alburz or Elburz, is a mountain range in northern Iran stretching from the borders of Armenia in the northwest to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and ending in the east at the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan....
     mountains.


The Three Golden Lines spiral
Spiral (railway)

A spiral is a technique employed by railways to ascend steep hills.A railway spiral rises on a steady curve until it has completed a 360-degree loop, passing over itself as it gains height, allowing the railway to gain vertical elevation in a relatively short horizontal distance....
 is one of the section of the Mazandaran branch in the Sewatcow county of Mazanderan. The spiral increases or reduces altitude in a short distance by passing three times in the same area at different heights. The trains reduce their height if they are going to Sari
Sari, Iran

Sari is the provincial capital of Mazandaran, located in the north of Iran, between the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains and southern coast of Mazandaran Sea....
 or increase their height on the return by going through the Dowgal twin tunnels.

Despite these challenges, the principal lines were completed ahead of schedule and under budget, with the first train arriving in Tehran about 1940.

World War II

P007
During World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, the railway was a vital component of the Persian Corridor
Persian Corridor

The Persian Corridor is the name for a supply route through Iran into Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II....
 supply routes connecting the Persian Gulf to Central Asia
Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
 and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
. The line was of such importance that the Allies
Allies

In general, allies are people, groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose....
 imported rolling stock of their own design, including the new diesel locomotives such as the ALCO RSD-1
ALCO RSD-1

The ALCO RSD-1 was a diesel-electric locomotive built by American Locomotive Company . This model was a road switcher type rated at 1000 horsepower and rode on three-axle bogie, having a AAR wheel arrangement#C-C wheel arrangement....
.

TV

An exploration trip to find a cave-dwelling fish named after a man called Smith, was filmed (by the BBC?) travelling along this railway line, and some of the tunnels and deviations were visible.

See also

  • Abdolhossein Teymourtash
  • Wagon Pars
    Wagon Pars

    Wagon Pars is an Iranian train manufacturing company established in 1974.It started manufacturing different types of rolling stocks in 1984 with the joint investment of Iran Development and Renovation Organization and the Islamic Republic of Iran Rail Road organization....
  • Persian Corridor
    Persian Corridor

    The Persian Corridor is the name for a supply route through Iran into Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II....
  • Royal Road
    Royal Road

    The Persian Royal Road was an ancient highway reorganized and rebuilt by the Persian Empire king Darius I of the Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BC....
     of ancient Persia
  • Islamic Republic of Iran Railways
    Islamic Republic of Iran Railways

    The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways is the national state-owned rail transport of Iran. Raja Passenger Train Company is an associate of the IR and manages its passenger trains including international trains between Tehran and Istanbul and Tehran and Damascus....