Freight trains from China pass through Türkiye on way to Europe
ISTANBUL
Two China[1]-Europe freight trains[2] arrived in Istanbul on Aug.
4 and continued their journey to Poland and Hungary, marking a milestone in the growing role of Turkiye[3] as a logistics hub. The trains, carrying a total of 98 containers, were welcomed at Marmaray railway's Halkali station by Deputy Transport and Infrastructure Ministers Osman Boyraz and Enver Iskurt, Turkish State Railways (TCDD) officials and members of the press. Originating in China, the freight trains completed their journey to Turkiye in 15 days, traversing Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway before entering Turkish territory.
"The transit time provided by this corridor offers significant time and cost savings compared to the northern and southern corridors," Iskurt said during the welcoming ceremony. "Our goal is to reduce this time to less than 10 days and, in the long term, to operate 1,500 block train services annually." These and other road projects will play a strategic role not only in logistics but also in regional stability and economic integration, he said. "Turkiye is no longer merely a transit country but is rapidly progressing towards becoming a hub that manages and organizes freight flows and creates value in logistics," he added. "We are very pleased to cooperate with brotherly and friendly countries in this vision, shaped by energy efficiency, sustainability and environmental responsibility."
The trains' arrival follows significant cooperation agreements signed during the Global Transport Corridors Forum held in June, where transportation officials from 80 countries gathered in Turkiye to boost international logistics cooperation.
The two trains were among the outcomes of those agreements.