In 1933, the contract for the North–South railway was signed with the Danish engineering company Kampsax. The project began with its most formidable challenge: the Northern Alborz Mountains, rising sharply toward the Caspian coast.
Several European companies had already failed to force a railway through the Alborz range. The greatest obstacle lay in the steep incline leading to the Gaduk Tunnel and the vast valley carved between two mountains. It seemed almost impossible terrain for a train.
In the south of the Caspian Sea, where the humid air smells of tea and forest, lives a people whose name is rarely spoken aloud. The Talysh. Their land does not try to impress — it teaches you how to listen.
Morning broke, finding us at the observation deck with a panoramic view of the city. The Ramsar surrounding by green mountains on all sides. Closer to the sea, these mighty peaks dipped their backs, plunging into the deep, purplish-blue of the ancient, grey Caspian Sea. This vast lake was once part of a larger ocean, connected to both the Black and Azov Seas.