Recently, Envir Eskurt, the Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Türkiye, said that the time of the China Europe Express from China to Türkiye via the "middle corridor" was shortened from 20 days to 15 days.

On the same day, at the departure ceremony held in Istanbul, Türkiye, two China Europe trains from China to Türkiye set out from Istanbul and headed to Lodz, Poland and Budapest, the capital of Hungary. According to Uskurt, one of the trains was from Chengdu, loaded with 508 tons of goods, set out from Alashankou, Xinjiang, and arrived at Kars, the eastern border city of Türkiye through the "middle corridor", which shortened the time to 15 days.

It is reported that in the past, due to various factors such as customs clearance efficiency and the Caspian weather, the China EU train often takes more than 20 days to leave China and enter Türkiye via the "Middle Corridor". In recent years, with the joint efforts of all parties, the freight timeliness of the "Middle Corridor" has gradually improved.

Uskurt told the Xinhua News Agency that the time for the China Europe train to arrive in Türkiye via the "middle corridor" was shortened, which was an important step forward for China, Türkiye and Europe. He also mentioned that the future goal is to shorten the time from Alashankou to Kars section to 10 days.

The "Middle Corridor", also known as the Trans Caspian Sea International Transport Corridor, is a multimodal transport route starting from China, passing through Kazakhstan, Caspian Sea waters, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and extending to Türkiye and European countries. In 2015, China and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding on docking the the Belt and Road Initiative and the "Middle Corridor" plan. (This article is from the official website www.seetao.com of Jian Dao. Reproduction without permission is prohibited, otherwise it will be prosecuted. Please indicate Jian Dao website+original link when reprinting.) Jian Dao website infrastructure engineering column editor/Wang Xia