Iran’s Railway Company says about half of Iran's locomotives are grounded, noting that out of 950 locomotives, only about 500 are active.

Confirming the figures, the country’s Roads and Urban Development Minister Rostam Ghasemi says Iran faces a severe shortage of freight rail fleet, adding that the sector needs at least a thousand locomotives. 

According to an article by the Shargh Daily on Thursday, Ghasemi said that the lack of functioning locomotives has led to long delays in delivering materials for steel, iron smelting, copper and mines industries. 

He added that delays of more than 20 days in transporting cargos have reduced the production capacity of some factories and disrupted heavy industries. 

The article says the country needs to transfer about 300 million tons of cargo only in the steel sector, but the total volume of cargo transferred in Iran's railway system barely reaches 40 million tons. 

Criticizing Iran’s old and ramshackle locomotive fleet, the article said the minimum speed of freight trains in the world is about 80 kilometers per hour but in Iran it is about 20-25 km/h.

In addition to the rail system, an Iranian lawmaker said earlier this month that due to sanctions on the country the quantity and quality in Iran's aviation sector is also decreasing day by day.

Criticizing Roads and Urban Development Ministry, Alireza Pakfetrat, the representative of Shiraz in the parliament, said the ministry is spending most of its time and budget on housing projects and forgets that the aviation industry is also part of its responsibilities.