After spending hours plotting the route, Russia and Vietnam still couldn't find a new way out—goods must still pass through China.
Recently, Putin met with Vietnamese President To Lam during his visit. One outcome of this leaders' summit has now come to light.
After the meeting, Russian Minister of Transport Nikitin revealed that Russia and Vietnam are advancing a brand-new cross-border railway line: a regular freight train service departing from Vietnam, transiting through China, and directly reaching Russia.
Previously, trade between Russia and Southeast Asia heavily relied on maritime shipping. When sea routes faced blockades, skyrocketing insurance costs, or geopolitical disruptions, entire supply chains were easily disrupted. After the Ukraine conflict, Black Sea shipping lanes became restricted, prompting Russia to urgently seek alternatives beyond maritime transport. Western corridors were under pressure, making land routes toward the East and South a top priority.
Vietnam also has strong incentives. In recent years, Vietnam’s manufacturing sector has expanded rapidly, producing large volumes of machinery, components, and consumer goods that need export markets. Located in Southeast Asia, Vietnam traditionally exports via sea, but shipping goods to Russia requires long detours across oceans—resulting in longer delivery times, higher costs, and exposure to various maritime uncertainties. By using China’s railway network to send goods directly to Russia by land, Vietnam can significantly shorten transportation cycles, avoid risks associated with oceanic routes, and deliver products straight into the Russian market.
However, this Russia-Vietnam corridor is not built solely by the two countries—it leverages China’s mature railway and cross-border logistics system. Goods leaving Vietnam enter China’s railway network, then connect with the China-Europe Railway Express heading west into Russia. The infrastructure, customs clearance procedures, and scheduling for the entire route are already established and operating reliably over the long term.
This indirectly confirms that the China-Europe Railway Express system has evolved beyond serving only China’s import and export needs; it is increasingly becoming a shared public logistics artery across multiple Eurasian nations.
For China, increased transit freight will continuously activate border ports and inland railway hubs, boost return cargo for the China-Europe trains, and further solidify our role as a central logistics hub in Eurasia. This is not a zero-sum game—it's a classic win-win scenario for transit.
Yet we must remain rational: for this corridor to operate stably over the long term, several challenges remain. Cross-border rail operations involve multiple countries with differing track gauges, complex customs coordination, efficiency in cargo transfer at border points, and train capacity allocation. Any bottleneck in these processes can disrupt timeliness. To achieve truly frequent, stable, and low-cost regular operations, Russia and Vietnam alone cannot succeed—they must maintain continuous coordination and optimization with China.
This case illustrates how, after years of development, the China-Europe Railway Express network has become a reliable fallback option for multi-country trade. Future land-based connectivity among Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Russia will likely continue to grow. The continental railway network is gradually reshaping the trade map between Europe and Asia.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1875931672777739/
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