More Cargo Flows Through the Corridor

From January through September, 8.9 million tons of cargo were carried along the North–South ITC, the Russian Railways press service reports. In September 2026 alone, the corridor handled 1.1 million tons, up 32.2% year on year.

Traffic on the western branch of the North–South ITC, which runs through Azerbaijan, rose by 9.2%, while traffic on the Trans-Caspian branch increased by 19.3%. The company did not provide figures for the eastern branch, which passes through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

“The development of the North–South ITC remains one of Russian Railways’ priorities. The route opens up new opportunities for Russian exporters and strengthens the country’s transit potential. Together with its foreign partners, the company is developing infrastructure to increase capacity along the ITC,” the company said.

In November 2025, on the sidelines of the 83rd meeting of the Council for Railway Transport of the Commonwealth Member States in Baku, the heads of the railways of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan signed a trilateral memorandum on setting competitive through rates and developing logistics services on the western route of the North–South ITC. The agreement aims to ensure stable freight rates along the route.

“The railway administrations guarantee rates and terms for a set period of time, thereby creating more favorable conditions for shippers,” Oleg Belozerov, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Russian Railways, said of the signing.

The company is also carrying out a large-scale upgrade of infrastructure on the Russia–Azerbaijan border. In particular, the capacity of Samur-2 station is to be raised to 20 million tons a year by 2028.

At the plenary session of the 23rd annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that Russia is also ready to take part in building the missing Rasht–Astara railway section on the western branch of the North–South ITC in Iran. “We are ready to provide the necessary loans. What matters is that our Iranian friends do their part of the work at this stage,” the head of state said. He was referring to land acquisition for the project. According to the Iranian side, this process has already been completed, while Russian experts speaking to Gudok put the figure at 125 km out of the required 162 km. “The measures taken to develop the North–South ITC have paid off and made it possible to increase traffic, despite the escalation in the Middle East and increasingly complex supply chains,” one of them notes. After the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, most analysts had expected traffic on this route to fall or even come to a complete halt.

Alexander Karavaev, an expert at the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies, attributes the rapid growth in traffic in September and the faster growth on the Trans-Caspian route to higher grain shipments. According to analytics firm ProZerno, Iran has become the leading buyer of Russian grain this agricultural season thanks to supplies across the Caspian Sea.

“Grain moves by whatever transport can carry the largest volume in a single trip. Dry bulk carriers naturally come first here, followed by rail,” Alexander Karavaev explains. The rise in demand has doubled freight rates on the Caspian Sea and increased waiting times at ports.

In the analyst’s view, port infrastructure in the Caspian basin is currently overstretched, which points to the need to expand other segments of the North–South ITC so that cargo can be carried by rail.

Dmitry Koptev