Kazakhstan’s national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) has announced that the first return container train along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) departed on November 24 from Baku, Azerbaijan to Xi’an, China via Kazakhstan.
The train, consisting of 62 containers with petroleum coke, will travel along the TITR after reverse loading and will return to Xi’an in 12 days.
The service was organized by KTZ Express, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy in partnership with Xi’an Free Trade Port (China), Absheron Logistics and ADY Express (Azerbaijan).
Previously, similar cargo was transported from Azerbaijan by trucks to the port of Trabzon in Turkey and from there by sea to China, which took more than 40 days.
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor, connects China and Europe via Central Asia and the Caucasus.
According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport, in 2023, cargo transit between China and Europe through Kazakhstan reached 2.76 million tons, a 65% increase from 1.7 million tons in 2022.
