Turkey as a railfreight hub
A private operator’s new Istanbul–Budapest link. Turkey is aiming to improve its position as a hub for rail transport solutions by adding a new freight train connecting the country to Hungary. The operator Pacific Eurasia expects to generate annual volumes of 750,000 t.
The new railway connection will be operated by Pacific Eurasia, a private Turkish railway enterprise founded in 2019. The firm organises international freight trains along the Middle Corridor on the New Silk Road, amongst various other undertakings.
They connect China to Europe, running via Baku (Azerbaijan), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Kars (Turkey), from where the goods are then distributed to the rest of Europe. The first train to Hungary left Istanbul at the end of October and reached its destination, the national capital Budapest, after a transit time of four days.
Shifting 22,000 lorries to the railways
The train’s 1,549 km journey to Hungary took it from Turkey through Bulgaria and Romania. Pacific Eurasia plans to operate approximately 600 trains a year on the new route, and expects to export 750,000 t of goods from Turkey to Hungary, worth approximately EUR 600 million. The new service is expected to shift 22,000 lorry trips to the railways.
As Turkish transport minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu explained at a ceremony held in Halkalı station in Istanbul before the departure of the first train to Hungary, the service represents another step in the ongoing privatisation of the Turkish railway sector. It also further strengthens the country’s position as a logistics hub for transports between Asia and Europe.
Since the opening of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway line (BTK) in October 2017, container trains have transported more than 1.5 million t of goods on the Middle Corridor between Asia and Europe. In addition to Chinese consumer goods, raw materials from Asia are increasingly also transported on this route.
China–Kars in just twelve days
The Turkish transport ministry expects the volume of goods hauled from China via Turkey to Europe and vice-versa to continue to grow. The Middle Corridor of the New Silk Road is an alternative to east–west connections across Russian territory and is also attractive on account of its short transit times. The trains reach the eastern Turkish city of Kars, 8,700 km from China, in just twelve days on the BTK route.
Capacity for 1,500 blocktrains
Turkey has already made the corresponding preparations to be ready to manage the expected increase in transport volumes. According to the transport ministry, the country’s railway and logistics infrastructure is set to be further expanded, thanks to several new projects that will be tackled in the coming years. The aim is to expand the railway network from 4,000 km to approximately 17,300 km by 2028 and then to 28,600 km by 2052.
This expansion will make it possible to run approximately 200 blocktrains a year from China via the Middle Corridor to Turkey and Europe in the medium term. This figure is expected to rise to 1,500 a year in the long term. The transit time between China and Kars will then be further reduced by two to ten days.