Rail transit from China to Iran reaches 60 trains a year, while Iranian Railways says the absence of official Iranian bills of lading limits control of the corridor

Shahriar Naghizadeh, director general of foreign commerce at the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, told the seventeenth session of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce transport commission, in remarks published on Saturday, 1 August 2026, that trains arriving from China mostly do not enter Iran under official Iranian bills of lading, which limits Iranian Railways' ability to manage the route. He said several unaffiliated companies move consignments to the border each day, and that this disorder has blocked rail lines and disrupted customs clearance.

He also reported significant growth on the corridor: the number of trains running from China to Iran has risen from an average of one a year over the past decade to 60 last year, and freight volume has passed 200,000 tonnes. Naghizadeh said an $80 transshipment charge in Turkmenistan had been removed, train acceptance capacity had increased from one to four trains a day, and a transit unit had been set up. Despite congestion of about 50 trains at the China and Kazakhstan borders and journey times rising to 35 days, he said the transit route had been preserved.

At the same session, Gholamhossein Valadi, director general of Tehran Railways, reported a 182 percent rise in rail transit and an increase in freight handled at the Aprin dry port from 83,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes. The 800 hectare facility, 20 kilometres from Tehran, has a container terminal able to handle 1,200 wagons and silos with a capacity of 350,000 tonnes.