The Volume of Cargo Transportation by Rail along the North–South Corridor Increased 21.6% in 9 Months

Russian Railways President Oleg Belozerov took part in a working meeting on the formation of the North–South international transport corridor (ITC) with the heads of the railway administrations of Azerbaijan, Belarus and Iran on the sidelines of the Council for Rail Transport of the Commonwealth Member States on Friday.

During the talks, it was noted that, for the first 9 months of this year, the volume of cargo transportation by rail along the North–South corridor increased by 21.6% and amounted to over 4.7 million t. In addition, compared to last year, the volume of container shipments increased 2.4 times—over 7000 containers were delivered along the ITC.

At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to establish a joint working group on the development of the western route of the North–South ITC as soon as possible and signed a protocol.

Recall that, last year, JSC RZD Logistics, together with foreign partners, carried out a test shipment of containers from India to Russia via Iran and Azerbaijan along the western corridor route.

To maintain the growth trend, according to the participants of the meeting, it is necessary to focus logistics companies on creating regular transport services and developing agreed tariff rates that satisfy the interests of all parties, as well as simplify the procedures for the customs clearance of goods and actively promote the logistics capabilities of this route.

At the same time, it is necessary to ensure a clear interaction between all participants in the logistics chain: railways, ports, sea carriers, and customs services.

Direct rail service along the western route of the North–South ITC, which requires the construction and commissioning of the last link of the western branch of the corridor, the Rasht–Astara line, could accelerate and reduce the cost of delivering goods between Europe, Belarus and the central regions of Russia, on the one hand, and the Persian Gulf and South Asia, on the other.