The first train left Wuwei on February 21, 2026. By August, a total of 67 wagons had passed along the route of the international railway express "Tianma" in the direction of Dushanbe and Khujand. They include industrial equipment, components for windows and doors, rice processing lines, solar energy systems, as well as consumer goods. The twenty-first train delivered five containers with components for commercial air conditioners to Khujand station.
The route originated from a business meeting. Fan Hongming, Chairman of the Wuwei Bond Logistics Center, and Myrzabek Duishabayev, CEO of TAURA Trans Logistics LLC, met at an international exhibition in Astana. The Tajik side offered to organize a direct freight service, while the Chinese side took up the search for the optimal route.
Initially, a combined option was considered: a car plus a railway through Kyrgyzstan. Chronic congestion on certain sections of Kyrgyz roads made this option unreliable. Fan Hongming's team switched to a fully railway corridor through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan — it turned out to be faster and cheaper than previous schemes with automobile transit through third countries.
Ubaidullo Obidov, head of the Khujand station, notes the expansion of the range of goods: if at first consumer goods prevailed, now industrial equipment, components and electric vehicles are becoming more active.
"We look forward to launching more freight trains from China and further expanding cooperation in the field of freight transportation and logistics," Obidov said.
For Tajikistan, where mountains occupy more than 90% of the territory and there is no direct access to the sea, railway corridors through neighboring countries are the only way to scale foreign trade turnover. Regular communication with Wuwei, the administrative center of logistics in Gansu Province, integrates the country into the broader China—Central Asia transport network.
Fan Hongming said that more and more enterprises from both sides are showing interest in direct deliveries via the new route. The Chinese side plans to facilitate the reverse flow: the export of Tajik agricultural and mineral products to China. If the reverse loading takes place, the route will turn from an export route into a two-way trade corridor, which will significantly reduce the cost of freight for all participants in the chain.
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