From Iran to China: An Emerging Trans-Central Asian Corridor

China, Iran, and Central Asia are building new rail links as maritime trade faces growing disruption

By: Emil Avdaliani

Diesel locomotive CKD9C with freight train in China before the Kazakhstan border. Wikimedia image

For decades, the idea of an overland connection between China and Iran existed more on paper than in practice. Freight trains did occasionally make the journey across Central Asia, largely using infrastructure inherited from the Soviet peri…