Kazakhstan and China are launching a new railway route that will allow cargo transportation to Europe bypassing Russia, Kazakhstan's national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) announced on Tuesday.
As part of the project, launched jointly with China Railway Container Transport (CRCT), container trains from China will travel through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Turkey, and from there to European countries.
The first train on the new route departed from Chengdu, China, to the Polish city of Łódź.
"The route will ensure uninterrupted cargo delivery and efficient connectivity between countries. The expected transit time is 40 days," KTZ's press service emphasized.
At the same time, China is developing two other railway projects through Central Asian countries of the former USSR to bypass Russia. The first, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM), was agreed upon in the summer of 2023 and will pass through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
The second involves constructing a railway through Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to the Caspian Sea, from where goods will be transported to the European Union via Turkey. The $8 billion project, which is also planned to connect with the railway networks of the Persian Gulf countries, was approved in June 2024 and will be implemented by China Railway International.
Previously, goods from China to Europe were transported by rail through Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus. However, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, some companies have stopped using Russian territory for transit, noted the Washington-based analytical center Jamestown Foundation.
"For China, having an alternative route to the West and East besides Russia is important. The route through Russia is no longer safe. The road to Europe can be suddenly closed, as it was before. Therefore, it is very important for China to develop a new path," said David Kankarin, an expert on Central Asia at the Jamestown Foundation.
