Trans-Iranian Railway
The Trans-Iranian Railway is a 1,394 km long work of transportation infrastructure that connects the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea.
The railway was completed in 1938 as a prestige modernization project by the newly established Pahlavi state of Iran. Many bridges and tunnels had to be constructed to overcome hills and gorges; they were built in a mixed Iranian-Western architectural style.
Community Perspective: It’s hard to discern what you need to go and look at, as it seems to be made up of the connection of “specific bits here and there”. Its lack of OUV has gathered a long string of comments at the Forum – you might want to read up on that before you visit.
Map of Trans-Iranian Railway
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Zoë Sheng
Chinese-Canadian - 01-Feb-19 -
What does it take for a railway to become heritage? Is it the history, the track building, the engineering, the trains? Italy/Switzerland is the best and arguably the most loved place to enjoy engineering master class with the Bernina Express and Austria has a similar line. The Indian train tracks I wasn't equally impressed with but again they feature the tracks. For Iran I will assume, the famous architecture they mention in the documents is about specific bits here and there that combine into the Trans-Iran railway.
So what does it take to view the “site”? Tehran Railway Station is surely not the place to admire it. I picked a few spots on the way but I wasn't convinced with the inscription attempt. A bridge up in the mountain is impressive, sure, but not unique, and adding many bits together still doesn't make it an attraction.
I didn't ride on the tracks, maybe that helps, but I think it wouldn't give me a better view. Given that I would need to figure out how to ride it, where to ride it to, not knowing which places are the best, and invest at least a day to ride it back and forth made me decide against it, at least not before the exact spots have been defined for an inscription.
Site Info
- Full Name
- Trans-Iranian Railway
- Unesco ID
- 1585
- Country
- Iran
- Inscribed
- 2021
- Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
-
2 4
- Categories
- Human activity - Transport and Trade
- Link
- By ID
Site History
2021 Advisory Body overruled
ICOMOS advised Deferral
2021 Inscribed
2019 Incomplete - not examined
Site Links
Unesco Website
Related
In the News
Connections
The site has 14 connections
Constructions
Damaged
Geography
History
Human Activity
Timeline
WHS Hotspots
Visitors
30 Community Members have visited.