Russia and Turkmenistan recently signed an MoU concerning the possibility of opening a Russian Railways (RZD) office in Turkmenistan and a Turkmen Railways office in Russia.

The document also involves a cooperation development program for 2023-2025. This agreement plans a regular container service along the eastern route of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). Moreover, it urges the establishment of a block train to ensure fast transportation of raw materials between the countries.

RZD’s CEO Oleg Belozerov and chairman of Turkmen Railways, Azat Atamuradov, were the signatories of the MoU. Additionally, the two countries will focus on construction, modernisation, and reconstruction of infrastructure, development of human resources, and digitalisation.

Russia wants to boost traffic on the eastern side of the INSTC

It needs to be mentioned that RZD announced a 20 per cent discount for the transportation of containers along the eastern branch of the INSTC for the whole 2023. As RZD pointed out on Telegram, the discount does come with one condition. It will be applicable to containers being transported via the Russian-Kazakh border crossings as well as the Bolashak-Serkhetyaka border crossing between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

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