German-Iranian Business

Germany's daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported that a Munich-based engineering firm has received a request about the viability of such a Transrapid route in Iran.

According to the paper, the Transrapid train would help transport millions of pilgrims along the 800-kilometer (around 500-mile) stretch from Tehran to Iran's holiest city, Mashhad.

A Transrapid train ride between the two cities could reduce the trip to two to three hours -- a stark contrast to the two days a bus normally needs.

Harald Späth, managing director of the firm Regierungsbaumeister Schlegel GmbH, told SZ that his company had received an official contract to investigate whether or not the high-speed magnetic levitation train could be built.

He said that then Bavarian Economic Minister Otto Wiesheu's visit to Iran in 2004 had helped to lay the groundwork for the negotiations.

Wiesheu, who left the Bavarian government in 2005, took up a post as board director of Germany's rail company Deutsche Bahn.

Uncertain future

Späth, who said he had met with Iran's ambassador in Berlin, Mohammad Akhondzadeh, last week in Berlin to discuss the project, said that the Iranian had allocated $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros) as "start-up financing" for the project. He also told SZ that Iran was hoping for additional, private investors.

Apparently, economic sanctions against Iran would not stand in the way of the project. According to SZ, German companies exported more than four billion euros in products and services to Iran last year.

Wiesheu said that the project is "in the very early stages" in Iran.

"Iran is without a doubt a complicated country," he told SZ. "But, I hope circumstances and international relations improve," he added, referring to the country's controversial nuclear program.