Iran’s record-breaking rail freight 2025 won’t see a 2026 repeat

Dennis van der Laan — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:27:19 +0000

In 2025, Iran broke its record for rail freight transit, with over five million tonnes of goods moving through the country. This number was achieved despite international pressure, a representative of Iran Railways said last week. With the weekend past and the fragile Middle Eastern peace shattered, it seems unlikely that Iran will see a repeat of that performance in 2026.
The record-breaking figure of 2025 highlights a modest but real trend: Iran is (or was) becoming an increasingly popular transit country for rail freight. For example, six countries agreed to develop the China-Iran-Europe rail route last year. This news followed a 2.6 times growth in container traffic between China and Iran in the first months of 2025.

Last week, Iran reported that rail freight transit had grown by 7% to heights never seen before – exceeding five million tonnes. This is a result of traffic originating from China, but also from Russia on the North-South Corridor.

A freight train traversing the Iranian desert. Image: Wikimedia Commons. © Kabelleger / David Gubler

Growth despite sanctions

“The importance of this achievement is that it was achieved under the most severe sanctions and political pressures, which have certainly affected international rail transport”, a representative of Iran Railways, Shahriar Naghizadeh, told Iranian media earlier.

“Countries that transit their goods through Iran are in the crosshairs of US sanctions and European Union sanctions, and this has made our work very difficult. However, we have also multiplied our efforts to neutralise these sanctions”, Naghizadeh continued.

“This year, with the efforts made, by signing bilateral and multilateral memorandums of understanding with neighboring countries as well as with countries along the route of these corridors, and with extensive railway diplomacy, we succeeded in extracting this performance from international memorandums of understanding.

Now that sanctions and pressures have turned kinetic – we have all read the news – this success almost certainly won’t be repeated in 2026. Iran suddenly does not seem like an option for rail transit at all. The most important takeaway is perhaps not the achievement of a modest five million tonnes in transit, but rather that the development of rail corridors through Iran will face delays or become impossible altogether.

Iran was on board with transit plans

Policymakers in Tehran were ready to accommodate more rail transit through the country. In November, RailFreight.com reported that Iran was considering building a new 200-kilometre railway to Kars, Türkiye, to facilitate traffic to Europe.

Türkiye, Iran and Pakistan also pursued reopening the Istanbul-Islamabad railway, which should have been launched by the start of the year. The aim was to provide a more economical and faster alternative to sea routes. Iran’s ability to revive these plans depends on a new status quo, whenever that may emerge.

‘Muslim Union Railway faster and cheaper than sea routes’

Dennis van der Laan — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 09:08:49 +0000

A reopening of the Muslim Union Railway, a newly introduced name for the Pakistan-Iran-Türkiye line, is right around the corner. Talks between the countries are in the final stages. Karimi Ghahi, the head of Iranian Railways, believes it will be faster and more economical than sea routes.
With the project nearing completion, the Muslim Union Railway should officially relaunch before the end of the year. It would connect Islamabad, Pakistan, to Istanbul in Türkiye. The transit time is expected to be 10-12 days, faster than transporting goods by ship.

“This railway line, which is over 6,500 kilometers long, plans to connect Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, to Zahedan via Tehran and the Razi border in [Iran’s province of] West Azerbaijan to Istanbul. The last train service was in August 2022, but it was halted due to technical issues, delays at customs, and infrastructure damage caused by widespread flooding. Now, with a new agreement between the three countries, this line will be operational again by the end of December 2025”, Karimi Ghahi told Turkish media.

A geoeconomic move

“The revival of this route is not just a transportation project”, Ghahi added. “It is also a geoeconomic move that could redefine Iran’s position on the Eurasian trade map.” Iran hopes to position itself as a land bridge for energy and freight supply chains between Islamic countries.

“With the resumption of the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul train service, hopes for expanding economic cooperation, increasing goods transit, and establishing new ties among regional countries have been revived more than ever. Iran is at the center of this route”, Ghahi concluded.