The project of Trans-Iranian Railway of Iran, also known as the North-West Railway, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, after being evaluated by the commission members, as the twenty-fifth tangible cultural heritage of Iran. UNESCO introduces this heritage, on its website, as follows:
“The Trans-Iranian Railway connects the Caspian Sea in the northeast with the Persian Gulf in the southwest crossing two mountain ranges as well as rivers, highlands, forests and plains, and four different climatic areas. Started in 1927 and completed in 1938, the 1,394-kilometre-long railway was designed and executed in a successful collaboration between the Iranian government and 43 construction contractors from many countries. The railway is notable for its scale and the engineering works it required to overcome steep routes and other difficulties. Its construction involved extensive mountain cutting in some areas, while the rugged terrain in others dictated the construction of 174 large bridges, 186 small bridges and 224 tunnels, including 11 spiral tunnels. Unlike most early railway projects, construction of the Trans-Iranian Railway was funded by national taxes to avoid foreign investment and control.” (UNESCO website: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1585/=)
As mentioned in the text, the huge project of the construction of Trans-Iranian Railway of Iran was officially passed in 1926, under the reign of Pahlavi I. After a year, the Iranian, German and American engineers started the project. In 1927, the contract of this project was signed between Iran, the American Ulen Company and German companies, Philip Homtzman- Julius Berger and Siemens bou for 368 Toman per kilometer. In 1935, the railway started officially to exploit. On August 4, Ali Mansour, the then minister of Road and Urbanism, presented the bill of establishing a state railway institute to the national parliament. According to this bill, the institute would be responsible for “maintaining and running all properties, buildings, vehicles and technical structures belonging to railways and shipping of Urmia Lake”.
Not only is the Trans-Iranian Railway of Iran significant in terms of transport, quality and size of the project, but also it passes through several historically, culturally or naturally valuable regions of Iran which gives it an added internationally touristic value. It is one of the reasons of submitting this proposal to UNESCO for investigation and approval. Trans-Iranian Railway of Iran starts from Bandar-e Turkmen in its extreme northern point and ends to Bandar-e Imam Khomeini in its extreme southern point. Among the main stations located across this route are Qaemshahr, Gadouk, Garmsar, Tehran, Arak, Doroud, Shahbazan and Andimeshk.
Twenty-three monuments of Iran have been previously inscribed on UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List and two as the World Natural Heritage. What is interesting in the introductory statement published by UNESCO is referring to Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, as well as calling Iran the having “four different climatic areas”. Also fell into the category of Industrial Heritage, this project is one of the distinct documents which were inscribed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, in an attempt to make it globally known.