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A subsidiary of China State Railway Group has invested in Middle Corridor Multimodal, a joint venture established in 2023 by railway companies from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, to collaboratively develop the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.
China Railway Container Group will become a shareholder in Middle Corridor Multimodal, according to an announcement made earlier this week. The joint venture focuses on integrating and coordinating various transportation resources to offer freight services along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.
The route, also called the Middle Corridor, is the most direct transport link between China and Europe. It begins in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, crosses into Kazakhstan, traverses the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, and reaches Turkey via Georgia, or alternatively connects to other European countries through the Black Sea. The corridor encompasses approximately 4,256 kilometers of railways and 508 kilometers of shipping routes.
By combining rail and sea transportation, the China-Europe Railway Express can expand to include ports on the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and Mediterranean countries through the Middle Corridor.
Following the Ukraine conflict that erupted in February 2022, the share of China-Europe freight trains heading to Europe decreased from 45% to around 15%, largely due to the European Union’s ban on trains passing through Russia. Last year, the Middle Corridor was prioritized as a strategic alternative to circumvent these restrictions.
Data from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport indicate that around 4.1 million tons of cargo traveled along the route in the first 11 months of the previous year—a 63% increase compared to the same period the year before. Notably, container shipments soared 2.6 times to reach 50,500 twenty-foot equivalent units, highlighting the rapid growth and promising prospects of the Middle Corridor.
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