Turkey Sends First Export Train To China On Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railroad

The first China-bound export train to travel on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway departed Kazlicheshme station in Istanbul on Friday. 

The train is said to be carrying 1,400 refrigerators in 42 containers and travel a total of 8,693 kilometers (5,402 miles). It will start the journey on the 76.6 kilometer-long Marmaray commuter train line that connects Istanbul's European side with the Asian side and later head towards northwestern Kocaeli province, the capital Ankara, central Sivas province, and eastern Kars province to join the BTK railway line, before making a stop at Akhalkalaki station in Georgia and reaching the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The train will traverse the entire territory of Azerbaijan from west to east, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), and Kazakhstan before arriving at the final destination in China’s Xi'an province. The freight train co-operated by the Turkish State Railways and its official forwarder company, Pacific Eurasia, will travel through 2 continents, 2 seas, and 5 countries, and deliver the cargo to China in 12 days, which is almost four times faster than the traditional travel time of 45 days.

Mehmet Sait Baykara, Emerging Markets Region Logistics Operations Senior Director at BSH Group, a huge household appliances manufacturer in Turkey, said the exported goods belong to the firm. Baykara added that the trains carrying the cargo to China are the same transit coaches that traveled on the China-Turkey-Europe route in November 2019. Ten block trains have successfully served on the China-Turkey-Europe line to date, according to the Turkish State Railways.

The state railways Director-General, Ali Ihsan Uygun said the active operation of the BTK line has stimulated Turkey to start intensive exports to Asian markets, in particular to China.