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Railroads played an essential role in the transformation of economies, societies, and political structures across the globe, especially from the late nineteenth century to the beginning of World War II. Rail infrastructure became part of various colonial projects in Asia and Africa, developed under semicolonial conditions with the help of foreign syndicates in China and the Ottoman Empire, while railroad corporations accompanied the rise of managerial capitalism in the United States and Europe. Offering a comprehensive analysis of the history of the Trans-Iranian Railway as a project evolving during the Pahlavi state, Mikiya Koyagi's study gives Iran and the Middle East much-needed pride of place in the global infrastructure and mobility development against the background of changing political regimes and economic and social trends.Informed by the methodological approach of mobility studies, the book sets out to explore imaginations and practices of mobilities as experienced by different individuals and groups involved in the construction, administration, and operation of the Trans-Iranian Railway. According to the author's definition, mobility "carries spatial and qualitative meanings, tied together but also differentiated by factors such as form, purpose, direction, speed, and scale of movement" (p. 7). Koyagi admits that this approach results in a decentralized narrative as it combines the analyses of physical, institutional, managerial, and social aspects of the Trans-Iranian Railway in the political context of the Pahlavi state. However, conceptually this broad definition of mobility does not lend itself to a tightly structured analytical approach. It also remains unclear how the concept of "imaginations" relates to practices of mobilities and contributes to a new interpretation of the history of mobility. In terms of engagement with existing studies on the contested nature of mobilities in Pahlavi Iran, the author considers the "stories of ordinary people's mobilities" and their day-to-day experiences the major contribution to the discourse (p. 14).The structure of the book is loosely chronological. The first chapter introduces the ambitions and strategic interests of the Russian and British Empires and their officials' efforts to protect commercial and political interests. With its expansive rail and steamship infrastructure north of the Iranian border, Russia dominated the trade with Iran until World War I, which led to British strategic and commercial concerns about Britain's own infrastructure and maritime networks