ITI | RailFreight.com https://www.railfreight.com News about rail freight Thu, 20 Nov 2025 09:08:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /favicon.ico ITI | RailFreight.com https://www.railfreight.com 32 32 ‘Muslim Union Railway faster and cheaper than sea routes’ https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2025/11/20/muslim-union-railway-faster-and-cheaper-than-sea-routes/ https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2025/11/20/muslim-union-railway-faster-and-cheaper-than-sea-routes/#respond Thu, 20 Nov 2025 09:08:49 +0000 https://www.railfreight.com/?p=67474 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.

]]> https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2025/11/20/muslim-union-railway-faster-and-cheaper-than-sea-routes/feed/ 0 Türkiye and Pakistan plan to revive troubled rail freight service https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2025/10/28/turkiye-and-pakistan-plan-to-revive-troubled-rail-freight-service/ https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2025/10/28/turkiye-and-pakistan-plan-to-revive-troubled-rail-freight-service/#respond Tue, 28 Oct 2025 10:15:58 +0000 https://www.railfreight.com/?p=66964 Türkiye and Pakistan want to restart rail freight services between the two countries, transiting Iran. The last time that such a train operated was in August 2022, but it was discontinued due to a long list of problems.
The revival of the rail freight service should take place before the end of the year. It will connect Pakistan’s capital city Islamabad to Türkiye’s largest city Istanbul via Tehran, which is why the service is nicknamed ITI. “We had initially hoped to restart the ITI service earlier, but regional instability, particularly the war involving Israel, caused delays”, Pakistan’s Minister for Railways Muhammad Hanif Abbasi commented.

Pakistan and Türkiye are now involved in talks to discuss the goods to be exchanged on a revived ITI service. Once those talks are over, the goal is to relaunch the service by 31 December.

A long list of problems

After a decade-long hiatus, the ITI service was restarted initially in 2021, but was discontinued in August 2022. ITI struggled with a long list of problems: service quality issues, administrative delays, inconsistent schedules, and customs bottlenecks, writes The Diplomatic Insight. Floods in 2022 destroyed much rail infrastructure, which also contributed to the demise of ITI that year.

Minister Abbasi also identified high tariffs, unreliable schedules, and weak security protocols as obstacles to be overcome in reviving the service.

European Silk Road Summit

Asia-Europe rail traffic will be a key topic for discussion at the European Silk Road Summit. Join us in Milan on 19 and 20 November to talk about Middle Corridor developments, Eurasia market trends, important digitalisation projects and much more. Check out the programme here and get your ticket here.

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