The "North – South" International Transport Corridor (ITC) provides Russia’s export-import transportation in communication with Iran and then in transit with India and the countries of the Persian Gulf and South Asia.

The main goal in developing the "North – South" ITC is to ensure logistical support for the Russian Federation’s increasing foreign trade relations.

Today, cargo along the "North – South" ITC is transported in communication with Iran, the countries of the Persian Gulf, India and Sri Lanka.

The "North – South" ITC includes several routes using rail transport:

  1. The eastern branch of the corridor is a direct railway connection Russia – Kazakhstan – Turkmenistan – Iran with access to the Iranian rail network through the Akyayla (Turkmenistan) – Inche-Burun (Iran) or Sarakhs railway checkpoints.
  2. The western branch of the corridor is a direct railway connection Russia – Astara railway checkpoint (in Azerbaijan) – Astara (in Iran) with subsequent reloading onto road transport for shipments across Iran.
  3. The Trans-Caspian line is a multimodal route using the Russian ports of the Russian Federation at Astrakhan, Olya and Makhachkala and the Iranian ports in the Caspian basin.

This service ensures optimal cargo delivery times. For example, the delivery time for containers going from Moscow to the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran along the North-South International Transport Corridor is from 14 days.