Railroads play a crucial role in the Eurasian ITCs. Because of the speed and reliability of deliveries it provides, railway transportation is starting to compete with shipment by sea (advantage of speed) and air (advantage of cost). The competition with alternative routes has to be taken into account, whereas the strategy should be built around the available advantages of the existing routes and the complementary nature of others.

In the first half of 2022, 307,200 TEUs were transported along the China — Europe — China Eurasian railway route, which is 8.7% less than in the same period in 2021.