Kazakhstan’s railway operator plans to boost transit traffic from China to Europe

Kazakhstan’s national railway operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) plans to increase railway transit through the Kazakhstan-China railway terminal in Xi’an by 65% to 456,000 tons by 2025, according to Rail-news.kz.

In 2024, the railway transit surpassed 276,000 tons, while the Xi’an hub’s current annual capacity is 133,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

According to KTZ, the company saw a 33-fold increase in total traffic last year, although no details were provided.

In 2024, more than 5,000 trains were dispatched from China to Europe, setting a new record, according to the railway operator. About a quarter of these shipments passed through Kazakhstan’s transit hub in Xi’an.

Kazakhstan’s logistics center in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, was established in late 2023, with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev having attended the opening ceremony. The hub consolidates up to 40% of all container trains bound for Kazakhstan.