European Union is revising the TEN-T rail freight corridors under the new Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, so the effective connection of the Eurasian rail routes with the EU Core Backbone Network is a key priority
Central Asia, the Caucasus, Turkey, and Eastern Europe have great industrial infrastructure potential for the development of a rail Middle Corridor. But without China’s geoeconomic policy push, there is therefore still little economic rationale behind the development of corridor
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.
The considerable increase in China-Europe railway shipping volumes has positively influenced the development of the entire Russian transport system over the past few years. Enhancing Russia’s transport and transit potential will increase the revenue of manufacturing/processing companies, the budget and the income of employees and have major geopolitical implications
In the first five months of 2020, the total value of mutual trade between the EU and China carried out by railway transport, increased by 21.22% year-on-year (47.42% more in May than in January 2020) . This development allowed rail transport to increase its share in the total trade volume from 2.83% in January-May 2019 to 3.47% in January-May 2020.
