Xi’an (TDI): Railway operators from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have signed a new cooperation agreement with China Railway Container Transport Corp., Ltd. (CRCT) to develop the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), the key trade corridor linking China and Europe via Central Asia and the South Caucasus, widely known as the Middle Corridor.
The agreement was concluded during the Second China Railway Express Cooperation Forum, held on 18 November in Xi’an under the theme “Connecting Asia and Europe for a Shared Future.”
According to Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the deal establishes formal cooperation between Chinese railways, represented by CRCT, and MIDDLE CORRIDOR MULTIMODAL Ltd., a joint venture formed in 2023 by the national rail companies of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The partnership is designed to improve efficiency, safety, digitalisation, and environmental sustainability across container transport services operating along the Trans-Caspian route.
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia form essential links along the TITR, which has grown in strategic importance as an alternative China–Europe trade corridor that bypasses Russia. Kazakhstan in particular has expanded its role as a major regional transit hub.
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KTZ reports that freight transportation between Kazakhstan and China has grown more than 4.5 times over the past decade. In 2025, total freight volume is expected to reach 35 million tons, with over 29 million tons transported during the first ten months of the year, an 11% increase compared to the same period last year.
Joint logistics hubs developed by China and Kazakhstan such as those in Lianyungang, Khorgos, and Xi’an continue to record robust growth. Container shipments along these routes have quintupled over ten years, now surpassing 1.4 million TEUs.
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Momentum across the Middle Corridor remains strong as well. The number of container trains operating along the route rose by 12% in the first ten months of this year.
To support this growing demand, Kazakhstan is carrying out major upgrades in railway infrastructure. Modernisation and construction of 5,000 kilometres of track are underway, a development that will boost Kazakhstan’s annual cross-border freight capacity with China to 100 million tons in the coming years.
