Economic Corridor: Kazakhstan Boosts Container Train Volume on the "Middle Corridor"

In the first quarter of 2026, container train volume along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor, significantly increased through Kazakhstan, highlighting the country’s growing importance in Eurasian logistics. A total of 125 container trains passed through Kazakhstan’s TITR, marking a 34.4% increase compared to the same period in 2025.

This growth is primarily driven by a new logistics model introduced by Kazakhstan's national railway company, KTZ, aimed at accelerating container transportation.

Since January 2026, KTZ has implemented a synchronized container train formation system, aligning rail and sea schedules. This system enables direct assembly of container trains for ship loading without additional cargo stacking, significantly reducing loading and unloading times.

The new model has already been applied to 28 container trains heading to key logistics hubs, including:

Azerbaijan’s Absheron;

Georgia’s Poti and Tbilisi; and

Turkey’s Mersin and Izmit.

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) is a multimodal corridor connecting China and Europe via Central Asia and the South Caucasus, offering an alternative to routes passing through Russia.

Origin points for freight have also become more diversified. While Xi’an, China, still accounted for approximately 50% of total freight volume in 2025, more industrial centers have now joined the route, including Zhengzhou, Yiwu, Hefei, Wuhan, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. This diversification is expected to further enhance the corridor’s resilience and capacity.

KTZ plans to expand the scale of the synchronized transport model throughout 2026, thereby improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the China-Europe international transport corridor.

According to previous reports by Central Asia Today, freight volume along the Middle Corridor via Kazakhstan has grown more than fivefold over the past seven years, rising from 800,000 tons annually to 4.5 million tons.

Containerized transport has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments on this route. In 2025, container throughput along the Middle Corridor reached approximately 77,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). Kazakhstan aims to increase this figure to 300,000 TEUs by 2029, reflecting its ambition to establish the corridor as a critical artery for Eurasian trade.

Source: Central Asia Today

Author: Sergey Guan

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1862648455095305/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s).