A GENERAL VIEW OF IRAN   Transportation Iran has a developing transport system. a. An efficient road network has been under construction in Tehran since 1995. b. The subway, the first phase of which is currently operational, is also under construction in Tehran. c. The city bus in Tehran and other cities is run by Vahed Co. The fare is 200 rials. Tehran has an enormous bus network. d. It is very convenient and economical to drive your own car in Iran. The price of gasoline is very low (about 500 rials per liter). e. Civil aviation plays a crucial role in the Iranian transportation system. Iran Air is the major airline, which links the major cities and towns to Tehran. It is very convenient and inexpensive to travel by air inside the country. The state-run "Iran Air" flies to European and Asian countries only. Some other airlines belonging to the private sector handle domestic flights. There are 42 active airports throughout the country. The airports that handle international flights include: Tehran, Shiraz, Zahedan, Mashad, Bandar Abbas, Abadan, Tabriz, Isfahan, Ahwaz, Rasht, Lar and Kish. International arrivals during 1996 registered 886,000 passengers against departure's 943,000. f. Railway network: 1- Some 1,392 km of railway linking Turkmen port in the North to Shahpoor Port in the South was initially built in 1938. 2- Julfa-Tabriz built in 1916, 146 km. 3- Sufian-Sharaf-Khaneh in 1870, 53 km 4- Mirjaveh-Zahedan in 1920, 92 km. 5- Ahwaz-Khoram-Shahr, built in 1942 (during World War II assisted by Allies). 6- Qom-Kashan, built in 1949, 98 km 7- Tehran-Mashad, built in 1956, 925 km 8- Tehran-Tabriz, built in 1957, 742 km 9- Bandar Abbas-Tehran (via Bafgh), construction completed in 1994 10- Sarakhs-Mashad, built in 1996, 164 km   The latter is particularly expected to play a crucial role in Railways earnings as it links Central Asian States to the Persian Gulf and consequently to Europe. Thus the European nations can now transit their goods in less than 10 days to the Central Asian nations through this reliable and economical railway system, while being able to know of their whereabouts at any given time via advanced telecommunication facilities. During the recent years, the convenience, comfort, punctuality and dependability of the three railway companies have increasingly been urging passengers to prefer railway to road travel. The railway is also linking Tabriz to Istanbul in Turkey through Sharafkhaneh, making land traveling convenient from Europe to Pakistan. Total length of the Iranian railway network is 9,800 km, 5,800 km of which comprise the main route, over 2,000 km industrial, business and subsidiary, 146 km (Tabriz-Julfa) is electricity powered and the remainder are maneuvering lines. In 1375 approximately 9 million passengers and 23 million tons of cargo were transported by railway (against the 9,306,000 passengers flown by air). g. Waterways: Iranian waters are patrolled by The Iranian Navy. IRISL is the national Iranian shipping line. From the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf Iran is linked to international waters through the Strait of Hurmuz. 1- The southern Iranian ports include Bandar Abbas, Bandar Imam, Khark, Khoramshar, Abadan, Bandar Bushehr, Mahshahr, Chahbahar, and Kish Island. 2- The northern ports off the Caspian Sea linking Iran to the Republic of Azerbaijan and Central Asia include Bandar Anzali and Noshar. Some 30.7 million tons of cargo including oil were unloaded in above ports in 1996, whereas 5.5 million tons (exclusive of oil products) were loaded. The number of tourists visiting Iran in 1996 was 573,500, but this figure has been enormously during 2000. Telecommunication Iran enjoys advanced telecommunication technology. Total installed phone lines in 1996 were 6.7 million. Nowadays, there is a great demand for state-of-the-art technology in this respect in Iran. Education: There are countless state schools in Iran run by the local education authorities, but in recent years a large number of private free-paying schools have opened. Iran's national curriculum includes academic subjects such as mathematics, science and Persian as well as physical education. You have a choice of normal or vocational training. Before entering college, and after completion of the high school education there is the pre-college (Pish-daneshgahi) grade. The main event in the lives of higher education applicants is what is called "The Concourse". The enormous number of applicants has always outrun the available number of seats in colleges and universities. The technical colleges in Iran teach the national curriculum, but with a special emphasis on science and mathematics. All the computer science students have always access to computers in the classroom. There are two major types of higher education: 1- Sarasari Universities, funded directly by the Ministry of Higher Education, free of charge, subsidized in the state-run universities). 2- Azad University with exorbitant tuition fees. Azad University has tried to found a college in deprived and most remote parts of the country. Anybody above the age of 6 who can read and write a simple text in Persian or any other tongue is considered "literate". In 1996 this number was reported to be about 41.6 million. In other word 79.5% were literate. The total number of students in ordinary schools in that year was 18.5 million. The number of college students was about 1,200,000.   Medicine Some 20,000 physicians were working in governmental sector in 1996 (almost one physician for every 3,000 persons). Number of dentist: 1,720 (one dentist for every 34,000 patients). No. of hospitals: 685, including 98,000 beds (one bed for every 602 people.)