Land freight · Belt and Road corridors
China to Eurasia by rail and road
Europe · Caucasus · Central Asia · Southeast Asia · South Asia · Mongolia · Russia
China ships overland to Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia by railway and by truck. A lithium battery load can use some of those corridors, but only after the Chinese railway, each operator and each transit country have accepted it.
This section sets out the corridors one country at a time, then the individual lanes from inland Chinese cities to a border crossing and a destination. Nothing here is an offer of a scheduled service.
What we need to start
Five corridors
The northern line crosses Kazakhstan and Russia to Belarus and Poland, with a branch through Poland into Ukraine. The Middle Corridor crosses Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey, towards Germany and across the Black Sea to Odesa.
Rail through the Khorgos and Alashankou gates to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and mountain roads from Kashgar to Kyrgyzstan.
The China-Laos Railway from Kunming to Vientiane and on to Thailand, and the road across the Guangxi–Lang Son frontier to Hanoi.
The Karakoram Highway over the Khunjerab Pass from Kashgar to Islamabad.
The railway from Erenhot through the Gobi to Ulaanbaatar, the Manzhouli rail gate to Moscow and the Suifenhe road into Primorye.
How lithium batteries are screened on land
UNECE finds no unified legal regime for Euro-Asian rail transport: the CIM and SMGS regimes apply side by side.1 The CIM/SMGS consignment note accepts dangerous goods only if they satisfy both RID and SMGS.2
China's October 2023 guidance exempts consumer lithium batteries only up to 20 Wh per Li-ion cell and 100 Wh per battery, asks for no more than 30% state of charge for Li-ion batteries under railway number 91045, and says damaged, defective, recalled and waste batteries should not be carried by rail.3
ADR 2025 is the current text and further amendments are scheduled from 1 January 2027.4,5 UN 3480 lithium ion batteries are class 9, transport category 2, with tunnel restriction code (E).6 Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Turkey, Germany, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are ADR parties; China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos are not.7
Whether a corridor accepts a lithium battery load depends on the regulation and on the operator and the country. We say so on every page and quote no fixed times or schedules.
Countries and lanes
Other languages
Each country and route page also exists in one main language of that destination, written for local importers. The overview and the general pages are available in every language below.
Questions
Land lanes are operated by railway operators and licensed hauliers. Anxin screens the shipment and coordinates the documents, and the operator for each leg is confirmed per shipment.
Case by case. China's rail guidance requires the shipper to submit a product safety test report, a rail transport conditions appraisal report, a rail packaging inspection report and a safety commitment with emergency measures before consignment.3 Acceptance beyond the border is for the operator and the countries concerned.
Yes, case by case, like every other land lane. Each enquiry is screened for the cargo, the parties, the operator's acceptance and the compliance questions on that border; the country pages set out what we check.
By sea instead
Sea freight leaves from Shenzhen, Shanghai, Ningbo, Qingdao, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Dalian and Lianyungang. See all sea routes from China.
Rail, road and sea operators apply different acceptance rules, and a shipment that is refused on one mode can sometimes be planned on another. We screen the cargo first and name the mode afterwards.
References
Next step
Prefer chat? Chat on WhatsApp (+86 151 4514 5178)
We check operator and country acceptance for the lane before any booking, and ask for missing battery documents first.
Share the cargo facts; we review the lane in writing.
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