TEHRAN, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- South Korean rolling stock manufacturer Hyundai Rotem signed a 720-million euro (856-million U.S. dollars) contract with Iran Railways on Saturday to produce 450 suburban railbus wagons in Iran, Financial Tribune daily reported.
To this end, the South Korean company will form a consortium with its Iranian partner, the report said, adding that the South Korean side will be financing the project.
Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Abbas Akhoundi, who was present at the signing ceremony, said that the project will create jobs for 4,700 people in Iran and increase the capacity of Iran's suburban transportation to 70 million passengers per year.
"The project entails technology transfer to Iran and will generate 1,000 direct and 1,700 indirect jobs in the process and some 2,000 jobs after it comes on stream," Akhoundi was quoted as saying.
According to the minister, it will take the South Korean side six and a half years to build the 450 wagons.
A further 150 wagons will be built for Iran as per a previous contract between Iran and Hyundai Rotem, he said. "By the end of the contract period, we will have 600 self-propelled suburban railbuses."
Iran signed its biggest credit line deal in recent years with South Korea's Eximbank in August. The deal envisages as much as 8 billion euro (9.51 billion dollars) in loans by South Korean companies to finance various projects in Iran.
Hyundai Rotem Company manufactures and sells railway vehicles, defense systems, and plants and machinery in South Korea.
