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Jan 07 2025

Rail freight sector on Middle Corridor: pessimism trumps optimism

RailFreight.com recently organised the second edition of the rail freight end-of-year market survey, with dozens of industry players responding and providing their perspectives on how the sector did in 2024 and what to expect in 2025. When it comes to Eurasian traffic, the market remains rather split on future expectations, but pessimism slightly dominates the mood.

One of the big questions that remains in the world of rail freight is whether or not the Middle Corridor will succeed as an alternative to the Northern Corridor, which enables China – Europe traffic by transiting Russia. The Middle Corridor faces many challenges compared to the relatively efficient northern alternative, such as the many border crossings and the necessity of traversing the Caspian Sea by ferry.

Respondents of the RailFreight.com survey are somewhat split on what to expect from the Middle Corridor by 2030. Approximately 42 per cent believe that the route will become an efficient transport route for Eurasian trade by that year, overcoming the abovementioned challenges, whereas nearly 58 per cent do not believe so. Read more

 

Source: RAILFREIGHT.COM