Kazakhstan, Astana, April 17 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
The Kazakh-Turkmen section of the Uzen-Etrek-Gorgan railway will be opened on May 11 this year, head of Kazakhstan Temir Joly (Kazakhstan Railways) national company Askar Mamin said at a meeting on the investment activity of the Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund today.
"The movement on the road section of the Uzen-Turkmen border will be launched on May 11 by sending the first wagons with grain to Turkmenistan," he said.
He stressed that the entire Uzen-Etrek-Gorgan rail route is a transit corridor that connects Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and Iran with a route to the Persian Gulf.
He said the Kazakh and Turkmen presidents will attend the railway section opening ceremony. It was previously reported that the goods capacity of the section is 10 million tons per year. This project must be the bridge between Europe and Asia.
The project will open a way to the Persian Gulf and Central Asia for Asian and European countries. The same opportunity will appear for transit of goods from South-East and South Asia and the Indian Ocean coast to Eastern and Northern Europe via Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia.
This way is several times shorter than overcoming the Suez Canal. Moreover, the railway will play a huge role in the development of the social infrastructure of the desert regions of the Caspian Sea.