With economic development, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are becoming increasingly important for many sectors, including transport. The transport sector is one of the pillars of international trade and the modern world as a whole, and rail transport is a crucial component of this ecosystem.

Geographically and historically, transport and trade have united Eurasia as much as geopolitical conflicts and imperial rivalries have kept it fragmented. Since the 2000s and even more so with the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Eurasian integration (EAEU) in progress, opportunities for a major diversification and modernization of the economies of continental Eurasia via transport and trade integration, at both a regional and global level, have risen dramatically and have in fact never been greater.