First train on Russia-Iran cargo route covers 4000km in 12 days
11/11/2025 www.newscentralasia.net
The train, originating from the Arkhangelsk region about 900 kilometers north of Moscow—a hub for pulp and paper production—carried 62 forty-foot containers loaded with paper products, pulp, and related goods. These were destined not just for markets in Iran but also for onward distribution to Iraq, highlighting how this route is already thinking beyond borders.
The whole journey spanned over 4,000 kilometers and took about 12 days, weaving through Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and finally into Iran via the Incheh Borun border crossing before chugging the last 640 kilometers or so by rail to Aprin.
What makes this particularly interesting is the route itself, part of the eastern branch of the International North-South Transport Corridor, or INSTC for short. In Russia, the train covered roughly 2,500 kilometers of track from its starting point down to the Kazakh border near Ganyushkino. Then it crossed about 430 kilometers through Kazakhstan, passing spots like Atyrau and Uzen, before entering Turkmenistan for another 470 kilometers via Bereket and Etrek to the Iranian border at Incheh Borun. Once in Iran, it followed the existing rail network—electrified in parts—for those final 640 kilometers through Gorgan, Garmsar, and Tehran to reach Aprin.
There were gauge changes at the borders since Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan use a broader 1,520 mm gauge, while Iran sticks to the standard 1,435 mm, but that’s all part of the logistics that got ironed out by railways, customs, and entities across the four countries.
On May 29, 2025 the first freight train from China made it into Iran.
The project had its genesis in the $400 billion economic agreement by China and Iran of 2021 as part of China's Belt and Road initiative.
