Sabena Siddiqi

China’s belt and road: what’s holding up the trains from Pakistan to Turkey via Iran?

While the three countries involved in the rail project have announced it will be revived this year, it must still overcome infrastructural hurdles before it can kick-start important rail routes under China’s Belt and Road Initiative

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A Chinese goods train arrives in the Iranian capital Tehran on February 15, 2016, as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. A planned Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad train route will also fit into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature trade and infrastructure plan. Photo: EPA

Sabena Siddiqi

Published: 6:45pm, 20 Jan 2021Updated: 4:41pm, 17 Feb 2021

Recently, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan announced they would revive the Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad (ITI) railway, a project launched in 2009. Despite several test runs, the railway link had not become fully operational.

At the Economic Cooperation Organisation transport and communications ministers meeting held virtually last month, Turkish Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoglu announced that the project would be relaunched this year. After finalising tariff rates and a timetable, the service will initially provide container transport; freight services on conventional wagons will be added in due course.

Once fully functional, the railway can boost trade in other countries, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and the five Central Asian states, under the Economic Cooperation Organisation, a development, trade and investment platform founded in 1985 by the leaders of Iran, Turkey and Pakistan. The train can cover the 6,500km Pakistan to Turkey route in just 11½ days, compared to 45 days by sea.

According to recent media reports, the service could also connect to Xinjiang in China through Pakistan’s Mainline-1 railway. The ML-1 project, under which Pakistan’s existing railway tracks will be upgraded to allow trains to move twice as fast as they currently do, is one of the most important projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Approved by Pakistan’s top economic body in August 2020, the project will cost US$6.8 billion, with China providing 90 per cent of the financing. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

Despite its huge benefits for the region, the ITI railway project has been held up for more than a decade. One of the biggest hurdles has been carrying out business transactions with Iran after economic sanctions were imposed.