The cost of transporting goods by rail along the eastern branch of the North-South International Transport Corridor has been reduced by over 50% since 2022, now reaching $32 per ton. This was announced by Alexander Sharov, CEO of Rusiranexpo (a Russian group of companies operating in the Iranian market), Logirus reports.
Fully operational since 2023, the eastern branch offers a direct railway connection from Russia through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan to Iran. The unified 1,520 mm gauge railway track eliminates the need for time-consuming and costly cargo reloading and trolley swaps, ensuring efficient end-to-end transportation to Iranian ports on the Persian Gulf, primarily Bandar Abbas and Chabahar.
The substantial decrease in freight costs on the eastern branch of the North-South Corridor is attributed to growing competition among railway operators. As supply has outpaced demand, operators have resorted to lowering tariffs to attract freight owners.
Transit time between Chelyabinsk (Russia) and Bandar Abbas (Iran) has been reduced to 10 days, further enhancing the corridor’s efficiency.
Additionally, the Transport and Logistics Center of Turkmenistan (TULM) has recently launched a container train service between Dubai and Moscow, offering a 20-day transit time.
According to Alexander Karavaev, an expert at the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies, the eastern branch is primarily linked to industries in the South Ural, Sverdlovsk, and West Siberian regions of Russia.
Eastern or Western branch: which North-South route is more promising?
https://az.sputniknews.ru/20241016/vostochnaya-ili-zapadnaya-vetka-kakoy-marshrut-mtk-sever-yug-perspektivnee-468093258.html
“Due to the availability of direct access to ports in the Persian Gulf, bulk cargo can be transported along the eastern route. That is, large quantities of raw materials that are difficult to transfer to other modes of transport and for which containers are not used. These can be coal, sawmills, fertilizers, fuels and lubricants, various chemical components and everything else delivered outside Iran. Finally, the eastern segment is potentially more convenient to connect with the Pakistani railway,” the expert said. ///nCa, 11 November 2024