According to the Xinhua news agency, in 2021 (as of 26 August 2021), over 3,000 freight trains with 291,186 containers ran through the Zabaikalsk-Manchuria and Grodekovo-Suifenhe border crossings on the route to Europe.

In 2020, compared to 2019, the volume of transit container traffic through the Russian Railways network increased by more than one third, from 618 thousand to 831 thousand TEUs, and by the end of seven months of 2021 this figure was equal to 619 thousand TEUs, which exceeds the level of the same period in 2020 by 50%.

The National Development and Reform Commission of China presented the regular progress of work under the Belt and Road Initiative.

By 2023, more than 80 % railway freight traffic between Russia and Kazakhstan will be managed electronically.

The Polish railway infrastructure operator PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PKP PLK) and the Polish company BBF signed a contract for the development of a feasibility study for the construction of a new railway bridge with double gauge (1520 and 1435 mm) across the Bug river and the modernization of the Terespol station, including laying of 1520-mm gauge tracks. The project is being implemented as part of the programme to improve the accessibility of the Terespol-Brest border crossing.

Czech private passenger operator RegioJet is planning to commission services on a route connecting major Polish cities such as Krakow, Warsaw and Gdansk.

The Czech rail infrastructure manager SZ (Správa Železnic) and Germany’s DB Netz AG selected the design contractor for a key component of the Dresden - Prague - Krušnohorský tunnel high-speed railway line in the Ore Mountains.

A 271 km long railway line between Yazd and Eghlid in a central part of Iran was opened for operating on 29 July 2021.

In Bulgaria has begun the construction of railway tunnel on the Elin Pelin-Vakarel line. The 6,8 km dual-bore rail tunnel is the longest one in the Balkans and forms a part of the Elin Pelin –Kostenec railways line upgrade project.

A new 107 km high-speed line was officially opened in northeastern China on 3 August 2021, linking Chaoyang and Linghai in Liaoning province.