Beijing to upgrade China-Europe Railway Express freight network and southern alternative
Agreement to build first phase of a multifunctional terminal at Kuryk, a Kazakh port on the Caspian Sea, signed in Shanghai recently
Beijing has pledged to upgrade the China-Europe Railway Express and stepped up development of a southern rail route that bypasses Russia, as the railway network struggles to keep pace with surging demand for Chinese exports such as electric vehicles and air conditioners.
The General Administration of Customs would support the construction of assembly centres and hub cities for the China-Europe Railway Express to keep cross-border logistics channels “diverse and unimpeded”, customs spokesman Lu Daliang said on Wednesday.
The pledge came days after a fresh Chinese investment in the network’s southern branch.
On July 16, during Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to Shanghai, China’s Guoyou Materials Group signed an agreement to build the first phase of a multifunctional terminal at Kuryk, a Kazakh port on the Caspian Sea that forms part of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, better known as the Middle Corridor.
The Kuryk project aims to bring the port’s capacity to 15 million tonnes, Kazakhstan’s state news agency Kazinform reported, citing the presidential press service – more than three times the Middle Corridor’s current annual traffic of just over 4.5 million tonnes according to Kazakhstan’s transport ministry.