EU, China working to improve Turkiye-Europe rail links

Southern Belt & Road multimodal route has received first China blockchain rail cargo in Azerbaijan for dispersal to Turkiye, Bulgaria and Romania, Report informs referring to China Briefing.

With Russia now under sanctions and ports inaccessible, the main rail route from China to the European Union has shifted south to the multi-modal route provided by using the Caspian Sea.

There are still inefficiencies along this route, which exits Kazakhstan at its Caspian Aqtau Port and then ships across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan’s Baku Port, where it can then rejoin rail networks to Turkiye and the Black Sea, with additional onward port access to the southern EU with Bulgaria and Romania.

Solving these is already underway, with the EU and China working together to construct improved rail connections between Turkiye and the EU, a sign of what may be a more common example of the EU’s ‘Global Gateway’ partnering with Beijing’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) rather than competing with it.