Tehran Times Social Desk  www.tehrantimes.com

TEHRAN - MP Ali-Akbar Olia says that the Tehran Metro’s problems should be resolved once and for all.

The disagreement between the administration and the Majlis over the Tehran Metro’s funding should be resolved, Olia told the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.

He stated that the Majlis is dealing with the subway system’s funding problem on a case-by-case basis, but the problem has still not been resolved.

The administration’s representative will be invited to attend a Majlis session to discuss the current situation of Tehran’s subway system, the MP added.

Commenting on the lawmakers’ suggestion that the administration provide the Tehran Metro budget from the foreign exchange fund, Olia said that this would be a short-term solution and would not resolve the subway system’s problems.

He went on to say that the subway system has no funding whatsoever and will face a shortage of spare parts in the near future.

If the current situation continues, the Tehran Metro will not be able to provide adequate service to the people at the beginning of the school year, he stated

Reports say cracks have appeared in line two of the Tehran metro, which passes above the Iranian capital’s under-construction Tohid tunnel.

Head of Tehran City Council’s Technical Development Commission Hamzeh Shakib announced the news saying that the cracks are only one meter from the tunnel.

Shakib also referred to the Sunday Tohid tunnel collapse, criticizing Tehran municipality officials for not paying enough attention to the construction project.

A section of Tohid tunnel at the junction of Navvab motorway and Kalhor Street in central Tehran collapsed on Sunday, leaving one person dead and five others injured.

Managing director of Tehran Municipality’s Engineering and Development Organization Mas’ud Nasr-Azadani later announced that the incident was caused by a nearby qanat and was unrelated to the under-construction Tohid tunnel.

“What the municipality officials claim is irritating,” ILNA quoted Shakib as saying.

“Officials should study in detail every project that they undertake.”

“Tehran City Council warned the municipality about the cracks three months ago, but there has not been any response yet,” said Shakib.

“We should have predicted the qanat subsidence in order to protect the workers,” he added criticizing head of the Tohid tunnel project for sacrificing quality for faster construction.

This is while Tehran deputy mayor for technical and constructional affairs and head of Tohid tunnel project Ahmad Donyamali rejects the claims made by Shakib saying that the cracks are unrelated to the tunnel.

“You can see many cracks in even an ordinary building,” he said, adding, “We are measuring the cracks to provide a full report on the issue.”

www.presstv.ir

Tehran, July 1, 2009: Tehran and Suburbs Subway Operations Company announced that Enqelab Square which has been made operational on May 31 has thus far handled 265,000 trips.

Enqelab sunway station

SAMA said the origin of the fourth subway line is at Shohada Square and it ends at Enqelab Square and includes Shohada, Darvazeh Shemiran, Darvazeh Dolat, Ferdowsi, and Enqelab stations. Trains arrive at stations every 10 minutes.

Tehran and Suburbs Subway Operations Company also reported that addition of new trains will reduce time interval between trains arriving at the fourth line stations.

Tehran, July 13, 2009: Managing director of Tehran and Suburbs Subway Operations Company announced that more than 1.5 million passengers travel on the subway every day, up by 10 percent compared to the corresponding period of the preceding year.

SAMA quoted Rabiei as saying that as summer begins, subway trips fall and trips by the subway in the current month has been down by 100,000 persons per day compared to May.

He added that on the whole, subway trips have increased 10 percent compared to the preceding year which is due to inauguration of new stations along the subway lines 1, 2, and 4.

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Tehran, July 4, 2009: Two more escalators have been made operational at Darvazeh Dowlat station along the fourth subway line to facilitate access by passengers to platforms.

SAMA reported that the new escalators have increased total number of escalators along the fourth line to 10.

The two escalators are 15.5 m high and are the highest escalators in Iran which facilitate access by passengers to the station from the southern platform.

Escalators are being installed at Mirdamad, Dr. Shariati, and Qolhak stations and will be made operational in the near future.

Tehran, July 22, 2009: Identity signs have been installed at all subway stations apart from a few new ones.

SAMA quoted Rabiei, managing director of Tehran and Suburbs Subway Operations Company, as saying that the signs, which have been installed at ticket sale corridors clearly show why that station has been named and give a whole account of its history to citizens.

He added that at those stations that carry the names of martyrs, the signs carry biographies of those martyrs.

Rabiei also noted that when a station is named after a prominent figure, like Sa+di, Hafez or Ferdowsi, biographies of those dignitaries have been put on the signs.

Tehran metro

Tehran, July 21, 2009: Deputy director of Tehran Municipality Cultural and Arts Organization for cultural affairs announced that the Subway Cultural Complex will be launched at subway stations to facilitate sending cultural Bluetooth messages.

Shahr.ir quoted Mohammad Moshari as saying that in line with Tehran mayor+s emphasis on the need to increase Tehran Municipality Cultural and Arts Organization+s activities at subway stations, all culture houses will be turned into Subway Cultural Complex before the end of summer.

“Through cooperation of subway officials, five more stations special to sending Bluetooth messages will be made operational before the end of summer vacations,” he said.

Moshari stated that the system for sending cultural Bluetooth messages was launched at five stations last year including Shahid Beheshti, Darvazeh Dowlat, 15 Khordad, Sadeqiyeh, and South Terminal stations where cultural messages containing such themes as entertainment, photos, Quranic verses, as well as poems of Hafez and Sa+di are sent to people+s cell phones as film, text and music.

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…some pictures of the underground train in Tehran

Tehran Metro and Iran Roads