Russia’s Emerging North–South Transit Route to Link St. Petersburg to Indian Ocean

Twenty-five years in the making, the transport corridor is touted by Russia as an alternative freight route to the Suez Canal.

A worker watches operations at the container off-loading terminal on the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust premises in Mumbai, India, on Jan. 4, 2007. INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images

Earlier in May, Russian and Iranian engineers began survey work for the planned construction of a railway line linking the Iranian cities of Rasht and Astara along the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea.

According to Russia’s transport ministry, the project will involve the construction of eight train stations, dozens of bridges, and 100 miles of railway track.