Iran sent a freight train through Turkmenistan to China on July 21, the official media of Turkmenistan reports. The journey, covering 10,297 km to northwestern China, will take two weeks, roughly half the time it takes to ship cargo by sea.
The train departed from the Aprin dry port depot in Eslamshahr, Tehran Province, to Incheh Borun on the Turkmenistan border, carrying dozens of containers. It will cross Turkmenistan to the Altynkol station in Kazakhstan before arriving in Yiwu, China.
Morteza Jafari, Iran's vice president for trade and railway operations, announced at the inaugural ceremony on Sunday that initially, one train per week will be dispatched from both sides (a freight train from China will arrive in Iran in two days). The frequency is expected to increase to one train per day.
This route is also known as the Middle Corridor, attracting significant attention from many countries.
Recently, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran signed a roadmap for the synchronized development of the eastern route of the North-South International Transport Corridor for 2024-2025.
