Also worth scrutinizing is the "international north-south transport corridor", which has begun to take shape following the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey in May last year, allowing the Russian-Siberian railway to merge with the BTK railway. Russia, Iran, and India proposed this initiative as early as 2002, which will help all parties expand their influence and promote economic and trade exchanges. From mutual competition to cooperation, Russia's participation in the BTK railway can be said to have what it needs.
Although it is the shortest land route Company banner design between China and Europe, the BTK railway has insufficient freight volume to replace the Trans-Siberian Railway. As the threat of competition diminished, Russia found an opportunity to cooperate with the BTK railway—the former fell into disrepair due to insufficient government investment, resulting in overload, reduced transport efficiency, and weakened the export competitiveness of Russia’s energy industry; the two railways The connection will help to free up the freight volume of the former, and also find a fast and efficient route for Russian coal mines to be transported to Turkey and Southeast European markets.
At present, the trade between Russia and Turkey is dominated by land transportation, passing through Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria, with an annual cargo volume of 20 million tons. After the connection of the two railways, it will be easier for Russia to develop the Turkish market and further marginalize Ukraine, and the problem of insufficient BTK railway freight volume is also expected to be solved.