A China Railway Express (CRE) freight train has successfully arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, in just 15 days via the ‘Middle Corridor’ route.

Following the recent upgrade of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars Railway, this marks the fastest recorded time on this route. The milestone highlights the corridor’s growing role as a competitive and politically safer alternative to the northern rail route through Russia.

On August 4, a CRE train successfully arrived in Istanbul, Turkey via the ‘Middle Corridor’

© China Railway

The train, which departed from Chengdu carrying 508 tonnes of goods, passed through the Alataw Pass in China’s Xinjiang region before travelling via Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea and the South Caucasus to reach Kars, a historic city in eastern Turkey. From there, it continued to Istanbul.

On the same day, two arriving CRE trains were also dispatched from Istanbul to Łódź, Poland, and Budapest, Hungary, signalling the corridor’s role not only in linking China and Turkey, but also in facilitating wider Eurasian trade.

Kars, once a prominent stop on the ancient Silk Road, now has renewed relevance as a logistics gateway. The upgrade of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) Railway has increased freight capacity and improved transit times, making the corridor more competitive with northern Eurasian routes.

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