Russia Floats Direct Rail Freight Corridor to India via Iran and Central Asia

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin has called for Moscow to examine the feasibility of a direct overland rail link to the Indian Ocean, offering an alternative to sea routes through two increasingly contested maritime chokepoints: the Bosphorus and the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a quarter of global oil trade and a fifth of LNG shipments pass.

In comments reported in early August, Khusnullin said any route that ultimately connects to India would be worth pursuing, with potential corridors running through Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to reach the Indian Ocean and, from there, Indian ports. If built, the network would give Russia and India direct overland rail freight access for the first time, reducing reliance on maritime transit through volatile chokepoints.

The proposal follows renewed scrutiny of Hormuz shipping risk amid regional tensions involving Iran, and comes as Russia and Iran separately advance rail-corridor cooperation elsewhere in the region. It remains an exploratory idea rather than an announced project: no route has been selected, no funding committed, and the geopolitics are formidable, given strained relations between Pakistan and both Afghanistan and India.

For now, the proposal is a signal of Moscow's interest in new overland freight corridors to South Asia rather than a near-term construction prospect.