ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 16. Kazakhstan Railways JSC (KTZ, national company) has started the scheduled renovation of the railway line this year, Trend reports.
According to the company, the modernization of the track began in the southern region on the Arys-1 – Taldykuduk – Shagyr section. Until the end of March, work will start on the sections Akkum - Talap (Kyzylorda region) and junction 15 - Ak-Kistau - Baksay junction (Atyrau region).
In total, over 570 km of railway will be overhauled in 2024. Enhanced average repair of the track, complete replacement of rail supports, and rail gauge are also provided. In general, all types of repairs will cover 1,400 km of railway track.
A large amount of work is planned on the Aktogay-Semey-Altay (153 km), Shu-Kandyagash (266 km), Kandyagash-Aksarayskaya (138 km), Astana-Almaty (260 km), Almaty-Pavlodar (106 km), and Zhana-Yesil – Kokshetau (161 km).
In addition to this, by 2029, KTZ plans to repair 11,000 kilometers of railway sections.
Meanwhile, the volume of cargo transportation by rail in Kazakhstan amounted to 416.4 million tons from January through December 2023. This is 2.8 percent more than from January through December 2022.
At the same time, cargo turnover by rail for the above period amounted to 326.8 billion ton-kilometers, which is 4.8 percent more than in the same period in 2022.
To note, the implementation of several large-scale projects began in the field of railway transport in Kazakhstan in 2023.
According to government data, the construction of a railway line bypassing the Almaty station (74 km) and the Darbaza - Maktaaral line (152 km) began in November. The first will shorten goods delivery time by 24 hours and alleviate the Almaty railway junction by 40 percent, while the second will enhance throughput in the direction of Central Asia by 10 million tons.
In addition, work on the Bakhty-Ayagoz railway line, which will span 272 kilometers, began in December. The realization of this project will enhance freight turnover between Kazakhstan and China by 20 million tons.
In general, over the next 3 years, more than 1,300 km of new railways will be built in the country.
Moreover, in 2023, 133 locomotives were purchased, which will renew the fleet of Kazakhstan's locomotives by 6 percent and reduce the level of wear and tear to 52 percent.
To improve the convenience of passengers, 856 passenger cars are being purchased. This year, 100 of them have already started operating on existing routes. As a result, the depreciation of the fleet was reduced from 47 percent to 45 percent.