STUDY Eurasian rail corridors

Given the continuing global and regional economic development, cargo traffic flows between Asia and Europe have steadily increased in the last two decades and are expected to rise still further. Ocean shipping accounts for more than 90% of these services.
 

Rail transport on the Asia-Europe route is growing fast but its share remains limited. Disadvantages in border crossings, reliability, infrastructure and other factors are still impeding the growth here, while falling sea freight rates aggravate the competition.
 

Nevertheless, business initiatives to improve the competitiveness and quality of rail transport are becoming more numerous on the Northern Eurasian rail routes and, more recently, on the Southern routes, too. China, Iran and Turkey are investing particularly heavily and promoting the Southern infrastructure links to Europe along the former Silk Road trading routes in a development that would seem to indicate a wish to promote alternative routes for future business. At the same time, Europe is investing in its cargo rail by creating common standards for the interoperability of networks in the nine RFCs(1) and the Trans-European Transport Networks.
 

As the worldwide railway organisation, UIC is particularly committed to supporting the successful implementation of international rail freight services linking Asia to Europe. Indeed, that is why the ICOMOD(2) study was commissioned back in 2011 to evaluate the possible potential of these services. Now, six years on, the development of intercontinental rail freight corridors is increasingly becoming a reality. Every week sees the public announcement of new initiatives and logistics services linking Asia to Europe and vice versa.

(1) (Rail Freight Corridors as defined in Regulation 913/20102). 
(2) International Combined Traffic, UIC Study commissioned to Roland Berger