Kazakhstan to build 5,000 km of railways in next 4 years
Kazakhstan plans to build 5,000 kilometers of railroads in the next four years. This is what Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov stated at the 40th meeting of the Conference of General Directors of OSJD Railways in Astana, noting that transport infrastructure development will become a key factor of the country’s transit potential growth, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The forum brought together more than 300 railway leaders and representatives, rail freight companies from over 30 countries. The railway network of OSJD exceeds 320,000 kilometers, along which approximately 5.5 billion passengers and 5 billion tons of cargo are transported.
The jubilee session became a platform for the search for coordinated approaches to the development of international railway transportation, discussion of the achievements of participating states, and prospects for further cooperation. The meeting focused on the issues of ramping up cargo transportation volumes, infrastructure modernization, transition to paperless technology, introduction of intellectual management system and personnel training.
Prime Minister Bektenov emphasized the role of railway sector in ensuring sustainable economic growth and noted that holding the Conference provides opportunities for a constructive dialogue and strengthening partnership between countries.
“Our common goal is to turn Eurasia into a single, seamlessly functioning transport mechanism. Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country.We are working to turn this geographical challenge into our strategic advantage. Over the past 15 years, we have invested about 35 billion dollars into the transport sector. More than 2,500 km of new mainline routes have been built. Today, around 85% of all overland transit shipments along the ‘Western Europe-Western China’ route pass through Kazakhstan. We are not stopping there. In the next four years, we plan to build another 5,000 km of new railways. Our goal is to increase transit volumes to 100 million tons per year by 2035,” Bektenov said.
Among the key directions in the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor), within which modernization of railway and port infrastructure is underway. In particular, container capacities of the Aktau and Kuryk ports are being expanded with the involvement of international partners. By 2029, transport volumes are planned to increase from 80,000 to 300,000 TEU per year. Delivery times have already been reduced to 18 days, and in the future they will be shortened to 10 days.
The international North-South transport corridor is also being developed, providing the shortest access to the markets of the Persian Gulf and India.
The introduction of digital technologies in the sector remains a state priority.
“Attaching great importance to the development of digital technologies, year 2026 has been declared by the President of Kazakhstan as the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence. We are implementing the TezCustoms platform, which has already reduced border clearance time with China from 8 hours to 30 minutes. This work continues with other countries,” emphasized the Prime Minister, calling on the conference participants to actively use advanced digital solutions to increase the throughput capacity of railway networks.