Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) has announced that the volume of container transportation through the country is growing rapidly. In the first seven months of this year, rail container transportation from China to Europe through Kazakhstan along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) grew 14-fold compared to the same period last year,
The TITR is a multimodal transport corridor connecting China and Europe by bypassing Russia, also known as the Middle Corridor. To develop it, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, together with other stakeholders, is working to increase transportation volumes, improve services, and speed up cargo delivery.
To date, the transportation time from Altynkol railway station on the Kazakh-Chinese border to Absheron (Azerbaijan) has been reduced to 9 days, to Poti/Batumi (Georgia) to 12 days, and to Constanta (Romania) via Poti/Batumi to 20–22 days.
In 2023, KTZ and the railway administrations of Azerbaijan and Georgia established the Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd. Joint Venture to improve multimodal services along the route. The joint venture provides a ‘one-stop shop’ service and guarantees delivery times and costs.
KTZ is developing Kazakh port infrastructure in the Caspian Sea with the involvement of large international logistics companies.
