The 83rd meeting of the Council for Rail Transport of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has concluded in Baku, with Azerbaijan using the platform to showcase its expanding role as a regional transit hub and to advance key projects on the Middle Corridor and the North-South transport corridor.

The session brought together railway administrations from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, alongside representatives of the Organisation for Co-operation between Railways (OSJD), the CIS Executive Committee and international railway unions, a press release from Azerbaijani railways operator ADY.

Delegates reviewed the CIS rail network’s performance in the first nine months of 2025, international freight and container train formation, tariff policy for 2026, and research and modernisation programmes, before signing the meeting protocol.

Opening the discussions from the Azerbaijani side, Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev said a series of large rail and corridor projects under way in Azerbaijan were directly aligned with the council’s agenda on corridor development and tariff co-ordination, according to APA News.

He underlined that construction of the Zangezur corridor with a planned capacity of up to 15mn tonnes a year was progressing, noting that the rail section to Aghbend on the border with Armenia was scheduled for completion in 2026. In parallel, Azerbaijan is working on roughly 200km of railway through Nakhchivan, with design work largely finished and construction set to begin “within days” under an Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (ADY) project, he said as reported by APA News.

Nabiyev also highlighted intensified work with Iran on the North-South corridor. Earlier this year ADY and Iranian Railways agreed a strategic co-operation plan on the construction and operation of the Astara terminal. The facility, located on Iranian territory but handed to Azerbaijan for long-term use for 25 years, is planned to be completed by the end of 2026.

According to the minister, Azerbaijan and Russia have already signed an agreement under the North–South framework on modernising rail infrastructure and gradually increasing freight flows. The plan foresees raising volumes on this route to 5mn tonnes from January 1, 2028, and then to 15mn tonnes a year at a later stage. On the Azerbaijani section, reconstruction of the Sumqayit-Yalama line is due to finish by the end of this year, while construction and rehabilitation on the Alat-Osmanli-Astara line continues.

Speaking at the plenary, CIS deputy secretary general Ilkhom Nematov called the rail complex a “strategic” element of economic and transport co-operation among member states.

He said that despite restrictive measures imposed by third countries, co-ordinated work within the council had allowed member railways to preserve existing links and maintain a “single, coherent” rail policy across the CIS space.

ADY chairman Rovshan Rustamov told delegates that Azerbaijan had carried out large-scale work in recent years to develop international transport corridors crossing its territory, crediting the results to President Ilham Aliyev’s transport policy, ADY’s press release said.

He said the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway now functions as a reliable bridge between Europe and Asia. Following modernisation, BTK’s throughput has been raised from 1mn tonnes to 5mn tonnes a year. Rustamov added that ADY is continuing infrastructure upgrades along the Middle Corridor, including conversion to alternating current on the key east-west main line Baku-Boyuk Kesik.

"ADY continues its work on infrastructure construction to further streamline operations on the Middle Corridor, including the successful transition of the Baku-Boyuk Kesik line, the main trunk railway in the East-West direction, to alternating current,” Rustamov said.

According to Rustamov, the Middle Corridor is gaining importance as an alternative and secure transit route for landlocked Eurasian states. In the first ten months of this year, ADY handled 317 block trains on the route, 119 of them in transit, representing a 32% increase compared with the same period of 2024.

He also stressed that works under the North–South corridor are reinforcing Azerbaijan’s position as a strategic link between northern and southern trade flows. Reconstruction of the Sumqayit–Yalama section is due to be completed by year-end, while ADY has carried out significant works on the Astara terminal in Iran, with completion there now targeted for the first quarter of 2026.

Rustamov pointed out that since February Baku International Sea Trade Port has been integrated into ADY’s structure. Its expansion and transformation into a modern logistics centre, combined with the Alat Logistics Zone, form a key pillar of Azerbaijan’s multimodal strategy and of the Middle Corridor’s “sustainable and efficient” operation.

Rustamov said closer transport and logistics co-operation among CIS states was becoming one of the main drivers of regional economic integration. He argued that joint decisions, unified technical and operational standards, and co-ordinated tariff policies are essential to optimise freight flows and fully utilise transit potential.

In this context, he singled out digitalisation as a core element: centralised transit systems, real-time tracking and digital documentation are being rolled out under several ADY projects, he said.

On the Russian side, Russian Railways (RZD) chief executive and board chairman Oleg Belozyorov told journalists on the sidelines that significant progress had been made on the North–South corridor, APA News reported.

He said intensive work by railway staff in Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran had reduced average transit time from Moscow to Iran’s Bandar Abbas port from 27 days to 16 days in two years.

According to Belozyorov, container traffic along the corridor is growing on both the western and eastern branches. Over the past ten months, 6,558 containers moved via Astara on the western route alone, a 58.3% year-on-year increase for Russian freight. He added that shipments from Kazakhstan, China and other neighbouring countries along the same corridor are also rising.

Belozyorov stressed that further progress depends on integrating all technological elements — infrastructure, management systems and digital information flows. He noted that Russia and Azerbaijan have already signed bilateral agreements enabling electronic data exchange, which should reduce paperwork and speed up processing.

In a separate meeting, Rustamov and Belozyorov discussed ways to enhance bilateral co-operation, improve route efficiency and strengthen safety, ADY said. The two sides signed an agreement on bilateral electronic data exchange, aimed at increasing the effectiveness of freight operations and enabling full digital document handling between ADY and RZD.

Iranian Railways head Jabbar Ali Zakeri told reporters that construction on the Rasht–Astara railway is expected to begin after Nowruz next year, APA News reported. He said the line is initially expected to handle around 3mn tonnes of freight a year, with a long-term capacity target of 15mn tonnes, matching broader ambitions for the North–South corridor’s western branch.

Commenting on the role of Central Asia, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy chair of the management board Talghat Aldybergenov said freight volumes between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan had increased sevenfold over the past four years.

In the first ten months of 2025 alone, shipments reached 4.1mn tonnes, he said, describing this as a “substantial increase”. Aldybergenov also underlined the growing popularity of the Middle Corridor, noting container volumes on the route have risen by more than 12% and stating that a recent entry of a Chinese logistics company is expected to roughly double flows over time.

In a key outcome of the Baku meetings, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding on the North–South corridor’s western branch, ADY announced.

The document envisages harmonisation of tariff approaches, formation of a unified complex tariff, regular block-train services and streamlined freight procedures. According to the parties, the mechanism should create a more predictable, faster and cost-efficient logistics chain between the three states, strengthening their position as reliable participants in international transport corridors and underpinning sustained growth in regional transit volumes.