ASTANA, Kazakhstan, December 5. Kazakhstan is working to expand the capacity of the International North–South Transport Corridor, Trend reports.
The progress of expanding capacity was reviewed at the IX meeting of the operational working group on the development of cross-border hubs.
As Baurzhan Urynbasarov, managing director of Kazakhstan Railways, noted, together with Russian Railways, an analysis of the efficiency of interstate checkpoints was carried out, and measures were developed to improve them.
Thus, in order to expand the capacity of the North-South corridor, from 2023 to 2025, work will be carried out step by step to lengthen the railway tracks at the Iletsk-1 station, second tracks will be built with the introduction of automatic block signaling on the Orsk - Kandyagash section with a length of 213 km. As a result of these measures, the reception of trains from Russia will increase from 7 to 15 per day.
In addition, it is planned to build 4 passing siding on the Makat-Shubarkudyk section and 3 on the Mangyshlak-Uzen section, as well as the introduction of automatic block signaling.
At the same time, it is planned to build second tracks on the sections Iletsk-1 - Aktobe (195 km), Kandyagash - Kigash (808 km), Shalkar - Beyneu (496 km), Beyneu-Mangystau-Aktau Port, Kuryk-Port (490 km), Uzen - Bolashak (147 km).
All these measures will increase the volume of cargo transportation along the North-South corridor from 6 to 20 million tons per year.
The North-South Transport Corridor was founded on an international agreement signed on September 12, 2000, by Russia, Iran, and India. This agreement was signed by Azerbaijan in 2005. The agreement has been ratified by 13 nations in total (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Sultanate of Oman, Russia, Tajikistan, Türkiye, and Ukraine).