Designing Strategies for Developing the Rail Transportation in Iran

Transportation, which is seen as a key factor for different communities, plays a significant role in the growth and development. In this meanwhile, the railways are among the most important factors in the national and regional development. Due to locating in a path connecting East to West, Iran has long been important in the movement of goods. Today, locating in the Rail Crossroads of the world, Iran enjoys a great opportunity for transiting consumer goods in Central Asia, South East Asia and Europe through rail system.
Given the importance of rail transportation in the movement of large volumes of goods as well as strategic position for Iran, in this paper, some prioritized strategies in conjunction with the development of the rail network will be discussed by using SWOT and QSPM. To collect Data, the library method and field Survey are used.
The results show that Iran has numerous opportunities for the development of the rail network and thus. It seems necessary to formulate strategy on the development and efficient use of rail transport network.in this framework, it is essential to connect gateways and strategic border points, especially major ports (not least, chabahar port) to the rail network in order to increase the volume of transit, reduce traffic load on the beaches, and reduce road accidents, seen as the most important priorities for rail development.