St. Petersburg Hosts Discussions on the Europe-Asia Transport Corridor

The first International Transport and Logistics Forum hosted an expanded session of the Coordination Committee for the Management of Railway Route EATL No. 1.
"As global supply chains shift and logistics continue to evolve, rail transport in general — and EATL Route No. 1 in particular — is in greater demand than ever before. Our primary objective is to create the most favorable conditions possible for international rail freight along this corridor," said Russian Deputy Minister of Transport Alexei Shilo at the opening of the committee session. To that end, a two-year work plan has been agreed upon and is currently being implemented. Its core priorities include comprehensive monitoring of the route and its branches, identification of bottlenecks, and the execution of measures to address them.

Accomplishments and Prospects

EATL No. 1 (Euro-Asian Transport Link No. 1) is a transport corridor running through Russia, China, Belarus, and Mongolia, commonly associated with the Trans-Siberian Railway. To maximize its efficiency, Russia initiated the establishment of the Coordination Committee in 2023. Its current members are Russia, Belarus, and Mongolia, with Kazakhstan holding observer status.

Anton Kozlov, Head of the Department of Foreign Projects and International Cooperation at Russian Railways (JSCo RZD), presented the corridor's performance results for 2025. Total freight volume reached 135.8 million tons, of which approximately 24 million tons (18.6%) were containerized cargo. Foreign trade shipments through Russian-Chinese border crossings accounted for 40 million tons, including 8 million tons of containerized freight.

In 2025, transit freight shipments from Belarus to China via Russia and Mongolia were coordinated for the first time. This segment is expected to be the fastest-growing in the current year, with cargo volumes projected to surge by 91.4%, exceeding 1 million tons.
To sustain the agreed freight volumes on EATL No. 1, a comprehensive set of measures has been developed to ensure the corridor's reliable operation. These include upgrading border crossing infrastructure, constructing new logistics centers with a gradual transition to dry port status and expanded functionality. The number of block train services — where a group of wagons is delivered from a single consignor to a single consignee under one consignment note — will also be increased.

Particular emphasis is placed on modern cargo packaging technologies (the use of big bags for fertilizer transport in open rolling stock, as well as flexitanks and open-top containers) and the digitalization of document workflows. Kozlov specifically highlighted the ability to coordinate freight volumes through digital channels rather than in-person meetings — a change he described as making the process faster, more transparent, and less contentious.

Kozlov also identified the use of innovative rolling stock as a key development priority. He noted that high-capacity wagons can yield efficiency gains of tens of percentage points, especially when the technology is scaled up.

Eliminating Bottlenecks

One of the committee's central tasks is identifying the bottlenecks that impede the corridor's efficiency. According to Lyudmila Renne, Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Department at RZD, these are classified into four categories: technological, technical, legal, and economic — with the first two being the most significant. She emphasized that more than 60% of delays at cross-border segments of transport corridors are attributable not to infrastructure deficiencies, but to administrative and procedural requirements at border crossings.
Technological bottlenecks include differences in track gauge, insufficient length of receiving and departure tracks, inadequate digitalization, and inefficient border control procedures. As an example, Renne cited the situation at the Chinese-Mongolian border crossing of Zamiin-Uud – Erlian, where the Chinese side cannot accept trains of 71 standard wagon units due to the limited length of its tracks. As a result, even though the technical capacity exists on both the Mongolian and Russian sides, trains of this length are not dispatched through the Naushki – Sukhbaatar crossing on the Russian-Mongolian border either. However,

Renne noted that Chinese railway operators have committed to completing the modernization of the border crossing by Q4 of the current year, bringing into service extended tracks of 1,050 meters — equivalent to 71 standard wagon units.


Photo: Press and Information Department of JSC "Ulaanbaatar Railway"

Technical obstacles are infrastructure constraints that affect the speed of freight movement and processing. One of the most pressing issues, Renne noted, is the mismatch between growing freight volumes and the capacity of certain rail segments. Several sections of the EATL No. 1 corridor still feature single-track lines, non-electrified segments, outdated signaling systems, and limited track lengths at stations. This leads to reduced train speeds, longer waiting times, and a bottleneck effect whereby even well-developed sections of the route lose efficiency due to a single weak link. Renne also pointed to insufficient throughput capacity at border stations, terminal and logistics centers, and dry ports along the EATL No. 1 corridor.

On the Other Side of the Border

Dashdambayn Amarbayasgalan, Deputy Head of the Ulaanbaatar Railway for Transportation and Traffic, outlined the steps being taken by Mongolian railway operators to increase the carrying capacity of the EATL No. 1 corridor. The Ulaanbaatar Railway is undergoing technical upgrades, including the extension of existing receiving and departure tracks, construction of new tracks and passing loops, and reconstruction of section stations. A rolling and traction stock renewal program is also underway, with new wagons, mainline locomotives, and shunting locomotives being acquired. Total investments for the 2018–2025 period amounted to $221.65 million.

These efforts have yielded steady growth in the Ulaanbaatar Railway's carrying capacity, which increased from 30 million to 33.7 million tons per year between 2020 and 2025. The target for 2030 is 50 million tons per year.

He also noted that in recent years, freight volumes between China and Belarus have become comparable to those on the China – Western Europe – China corridor.

The session concluded with the adoption of a resolution. For 2026–2027, the committee intends to continue monitoring the operation of the route and its branches, identify existing and assess potential bottlenecks, monitor tariff conditions along the route, promote the adoption of innovations in the freight process, facilitate the implementation of modern information technologies and services, improve customs procedures and support the simplification of border crossing formalities, and enhance safety — including environmental and cybersecurity.

Dmitry Koptev