China launches first full freight train via Trans-Caspian route — ECNS
China launched the first full freight train via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route in Lianyungang in eastern China on September 10. The new service is expected to reduce transportation time by approximately five days compared with previous routes, ECNS reports.
Route through Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea
The train departed from the China-Kazakhstan Logistics Cooperation Base in Lianyungang and left China through the Khorgos checkpoint. The cargo then travelled through Kazakhstan to the port of Aktau, where it was transferred onto a vessel for transportation across the Caspian Sea to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
The service was launched after the first phase of the container hub at the port of Aktau was put into operation. Before that, operational adjustments and cargo consolidation had continued for more than a month.
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Coordination of three logistics hubs
The transportation was coordinated by three hubs: the China-Kazakhstan Logistics Cooperation Base in Lianyungang consolidated cargo, the Khorgos–Eastern Gate dry port handled cross-border transshipment, and the container hub at the port of Aktau was responsible for port operations and transferring cargo onto vessels. According to the publication, this ensured an uninterrupted land-sea connection between the Yellow Sea and the Caspian Sea.
Lianyungang began developing the Trans-Caspian route logistics network in November 2015. The corridor connects Lianyungang, Khorgos, Aktau, the Caspian Sea, Baku, Tbilisi and Istanbul. As of September 2026, the cumulative transportation volume along this route exceeded 2,800 TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent units.
