The International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km (4500 mile) long[1] multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.

The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation via ship, rail and road.

[7][needs update] The primary objective of the NSTC project is to reduce costs in terms of time and money over the traditional route currently being used.

[2][8][9][10] Analysts predict by having improved transport connectivity between Russia, Central Asia, Iran and India their respective bilateral trade volumes will increase.

[8] Azerbaijan is heavily involved in the project currently building new train lines and roads to complete missing links in the NSTC.

[19][20] The project also aims to create a multimodal transport system to provide seamless connectivity in the region for passenger travel as well.

Rasia FZE announced its appointment of China Communications Construction Company as the "lead member of the development consortium" for the project and the commencement of the feasibility study.

Having reached this key milestone, Rasia FZE moved to secure essential regional cooperation for the financing, construction and operation stages of the project.

The feasibility study results indicated that the Southern Armenia Railway would cost approximately US $3.5 billion to construct, have a length of 305 kilometers (190 miles) from Gagarin to Agarak, and provide a base operating capacity of 25 million tons per annum.

The Southern Armenia Railway would establish a major commodities transit corridor between Europe and the Persian Gulf region, based on traffic volume forecasts of 18.3 million tons per annum.

At completion of railway construction and commencement of operations, transport costs and times for the region are expected to improve substantially, fostering greater regional trade and economic growth with extraordinary direct benefits for the Armenian economy including an alleviation of the economic pressures caused by the blockade against Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan due to Armenia's and Azerbaijan's war over Karabakh.

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are the main producers of grains which will be exported to Africa through Iran Bandar Abbas port.

A dry run of container movement via the green corridor was conducted during April 2017 to test and verify the smooth customs facilitation, connecting India with Russia and Europe via Iran.

[1] On 7 July 2022, Russian company RZD Logistics announced that it has successfully completed its first transport of goods to India via the INSTC.

[31] The positioning of the INSTC as an alternative to the conventional deep sea Suez Canal route is another major advantage of this route, taking into account geostrategic and economic diplomacy for all the involved countries, particularly Iran and Russia, both of which are subject to U.S. sanctions, in addition to the fact that it is more cost-effective and saves a significant amount of travel time.