"Stadler will put the wagons in service from the end of 2020 in the Iranian capital and its western suburb of Karaj," the Swiss embassy in Tehran said.

“On the margin of the First Iranian-Swiss Economic Commission meeting in Tehran, a major infrastructure deal was signed. By the end of 2020, Iranians will enjoy Swiss metro trains,” the embassy tweeted.

However, news and information platform Swissinfo on Friday quoted the company as saying that there was no deal or decision but merely a public tender.

On Wednesday, Swiss Ambassador to Iran Markus Leitner and Iran’s Deputy Minister Industry, Mine and Trade attended a signing ceremony between Stadler Rail and the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO).



Iran’s state news agency IRNA said Stadler would finance the project on a 14-year payback period, guaranteed by the Swiss Export Risk Insurance.

Last August, the World Bank said it was not looking to finance any projects in Iran, responding to Iranian government comments that the international lender was considering financing railway electrification in the country.

The World Bank loan was related to a 1.2 billion euro deal that Russia and Iran signed in November 2015 to electrify the Garmsar to Inche Burun route in Iran.

In July 2017, Iran’s state rail company and its Italian counterpart signed a final agreement worth 1.2 billion euros ($1.37 billion) to build a high-speed railway between the cities of Qom and Arak.
Later that month, French transport company Alstom signed a joint agreement for the construction of subway carriages in Iran.

The Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) has also signed a $1.5 billion deal to finance the electrification of a high-speed rail line being built by Chinese companies between the Iranian cities of Tehran and Mashhad.

Iran has announced plans to invest $25 billion over the next 10 years in the modernization and expansion of its railway network.

Under the plan, Iran seeks to stretch out the nationwide railroad line to 25,000 kilometers by 2025 from under 15,000 kilometers now.

/SR