Russian Transport Ministry Plans to Launch Rail Route Linking Belarus, Pakistan

MOSCOW, August 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia, Belarus and Pakistan are working on a rail route that would transport goods via the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), the Russian Ministry of Transport told RIA Novosti.

"The establishment of rail freight service with Pakistan is one of the directions for developing the International North–South Transport Corridor. The corridor provides direct land access to the markets of South Asia. Work is currently underway through the countries' railway administrations," the ministry said.

The operation will start once the infrastructure along the entire route is ready, the ministry said.

Russia and Pakistan are ironing out the details, including the route, cargo nomenclature, tariffs, delivery times, and plans for test shipments, which will be scheduled as soon as they are agreed with Pakistan and transit states.

The tests will be conducted both on the Russia-Pakistan route and Belarus-Pakistan route, the ministry said.

The INSTC is a 7,200-kilometer multimodal route linking Russia's St. Petersburg to the Indian port of Mumbai. There are three INSTC routes: the Trans-Caspian (rail and sea), and the western and eastern (overland) routes.

In May 2023, Russia and Iran signed documents to complete the final railway section of the corridor's western route — the Rasht-Astara section in Iran. The total cost is $1.85 billion, with $1.5 billion coming from Russia and the remainder from Iran.

Source: Ria Novosti