India to conduct dry run on international North-South Transport Corridor

NEW DELHI; India will conduct a dry run study next month for multi-nation and multi-modal transport corridor, a move aimed at reducing cargo transportation time and transactions cost between India and Central Asia and Russia.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (lNSTC) is a multi-modal network which would connect India to Central Asia through Iran.

The announcement figured in the meeting of the 3rd India-Azerbaijan Inter Governmental Commission.

"The Indian Side informed the Commission that India is conducting a dry run study in March on the route of Nhava Sheva(Mumbai)-Bandar Abbas(Iran)-Tehran-Bandar Anzali (Iran)-Astrakhan (Russia) through Federation of Freight Forwarders of India (FFFAI), an Indian organization," an official statement today said.

The multi-modal transport corridor will pass through Astara in Azerbaijain. A dry run or a practice run is a testing process where the consequences of a possible malfunction are intentionally mitigated.

"Completion of the corridor will lead to mutually beneficial connectivity between the two regions," the statement said quoting Minister of State for Commerce & Industry E M S Natchiappan.