TEHRAN – French multinational rail transport company Alstom signed a deal with the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) and Iran Khodro Rail Transport Industries Company (IRICO) in Tehran on Monday for establishing a joint company to cooperate on railway projects.The signing ceremony was attended by Iranian Industry Minister Mohammadreza Nematzadeh, representatives of the French company, IDRO’s Chairman Mansour Moazami, and IRICO’s Board Chairman Gholamreza Hassan-Nejad, IRNA reported.As the Iranian minister mentioned during the event, “railway’ share is low in Iran’s transportation and given the country’s requirements in the industrial and mining sectors we need to develop railway-related industries.”Earlier in July, Saeid Mohammadzadeh, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI), also announced that the country’s railway network requires 28,000 new wagons.In this regard, IDRO has been awarded a project to build 2000 new passenger wagons and the company is looking for foreign investors for the implementation of the project.According to Nematzadeh, Germany’s Siemens has also dispatched a delegation to Iran to explore investment opportunities in this area.“Signing such deals means accessing the world’s latest knowledge and technology and it will definitely solve the country’s issues of wagon shortage,” IDRO’s chairman said in the ceremony.​