As the whistle sounded, a freight train departing from Wuwei, Gansu, China slowly entered the Kuzhan Station in Tajikistan. Since the opening of the freight line in February 2026, this is the 21st train to arrive at Kuzhan Station, carrying commercial air conditioning parts purchased by local distributors.

Kuzhan City, where Kuzhan Station is located, is located in the Fergana Basin and is the second largest city in Tajikistan. Although the head of Kuzhan Station, Obidov, has never been to Wuwei, he has personally witnessed that more and more Chinese goods are being transported to Tajikistan through the opened railway freight channel, meeting the local people's livelihood and infrastructure construction needs.

In recent years, the economic and trade exchanges between China and Tajikistan have become increasingly close, and logistics companies from both countries have actively explored new transportation channels. Fang Hongming, Director of Wuwei Bonded Logistics Center, met Doishabayev, General Manager of Tajikistan's Taura Cross border Logistics Company, at an international exhibition in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Both sides agreed to explore freight routes directly connecting China and Tajikistan.

Previously, the transportation of goods between China and Tajikistan mainly relied on third-party transshipment or road transportation. Fang Hongming said that in the past, the trade scale between the two countries was relatively small, and road transportation was flexible and convenient, with certain cost advantages.

With the growth of trade, the pressure faced by traditional transportation methods is gradually becoming apparent. In addition, the transportation pressure on some roads and ports in Central Asia has increased, and the passage time of trucks has been extended. To meet customer needs, the Fang Hongming team first attempted intermodal transportation: goods were loaded onto trucks from Chinese ports, passed through Osh City, Kyrgyzstan, and then transferred to trains to be transported to Tajikistan. But some roads in Kyrgyzstan are congested, which will still prolong transportation time.

Afterwards, the team proposed a railway transportation plan that bypasses Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to reduce road transportation links. In 2014, the Tianma international freight train was launched, running between Gansu and various parts of Europe and Asia, and managed by the Fang Hongming team on a daily basis. On February 21, 2026, the first Tianma international freight train from Wuwei South Station in Gansu Province to Tajikistan departed, opening up a new route for the transportation of China and Asia.

Fang Hongming introduced that as of August 2026, Tianma has shipped a total of 67 vehicles of goods to Dushanbe and Kuzhan, including spraying equipment, aluminum melting furnaces, door and window accessories, rice processing lines, solar power generation systems, etc. After the line is opened, the train gradually realizes normal operation.

With the continuous expansion of transportation channels, the variety of freight products between China and Tajikistan is becoming increasingly diverse, and railway transportation is also creating conditions for the expansion of trade between the two countries' enterprises. Fang Hongming said that currently, the freight orders from enterprises in China and Tajikistan are constantly increasing, and the team hopes to further expand the two-way transportation business.

Tajikistan is a landlocked country with extensive mountainous areas, with approximately 93% of its territory being mountainous. With the continuous promotion of logistics cooperation between China and Tajikistan, the new railway transportation channel is expected to further enhance its external connectivity, promote Tajikistan's agricultural and mineral products to enter the Chinese market, and expand the space for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

This article was reprinted from: Chinese Embassy in Tajikistan    Editor/Gao Xue