Iran, Kazakhstan agree to boost rail freight, expand China transit corridor
Iran and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on Thursday to expand rail freight transport between the two countries and facilitate the transit of goods to third markets, Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported on its website.
The memorandum of understanding was signed in Almaty by Jabbar Ali Zakeri, Iran’s deputy transport minister and head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, and Nurlan Aldibergenov, chairman of Kazakhstan Railways.
The deal aims to develop rail cooperation, increase competitiveness, and ensure favorable conditions for cargo and transit shipments across both countries, the report said.
Under the agreement, rail freight volumes between Iran and Kazakhstan are expected to rise significantly, with plans to expand container transport along the strategic China–Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan–Iran (KKTI) corridor and to launch rail shipments of Iranian minerals to China via Kazakhstan.
The document also emphasizes transport safety, faster delivery, mutual rail services, streamlined customs interactions, electronic data exchange, and special unified tariffs to strengthen the competitiveness of transit routes. It sets a target of one million tons of annual transit freight and includes measures for double-sided container loading.
According to the Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, rail traffic between the two countries has already surged in 2025.
In the first eight months of the year, total freight reached 815,200 tons, four times higher than the same period a year earlier.
This included 664,700 tons of exports, a fivefold jump, 3,500 tons of imports, up 82%, and 147,000 tons of transit, double the previous year. Kazakhstan’s grain exports to Iran soared nearly eightfold to 569,300 tons, underscoring the success of the cooperation, according to official figures.