ASTANA, Kazakhstan, January 10. A staggering amount of cargo has crossed the Kazakhstan-China border, hitting 32 million tons, which is a whopping 13.1 percent increase compared to 2023, Trend reports.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with the Chairman of the Board of Kazakhstan Railways (Kazakhstan Temir Zholy) Nurlan Sauranbayev. During the meeting, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev heard a report on the national company's activities in 2024.
The head of Kazakhstan Railways reported that the positive growth trend in key production indicators had been maintained. According to him, the operational freight turnover amounted to 272 billion tons-kilometers. He also noted that container transit increased by 8.8 percent. The number of containers transported amounted to 1.4 million TEUs.
The President was briefed on the progress of large infrastructure projects and the implementation of his directives on the development of transit potential. Nurlan Sauranbayev shared that over 2800 km of mainlines have been repaired to date. More than 1,000 km of new tracks are being constructed, including Dostyk – Moyinty, Darbaza – Maktaaral, and a bypass of the Almaty hub. Work on the construction of second tracks on the Dostyk – Moyinty section and the bypass line Zhetygen – Kazibek-bek is ahead of schedule and will be completed in 2025.
Tokayev was also given the lowdown on the expansion of the terminal network to reel in cargo flows to Kazakhstan’s corridors.
"The increase in transit from China along the Trans-Caspian route was facilitated by the launch of the Kazakhstan-China terminal in the dry port of Xi’an. Construction of terminals along the East-West route has begun in Almaty, at the Azerbaijani port of Alyat, in Budapest, Hungary, and in the village of Selyatino near Moscow. Together with our Chinese partner, the port of Lianyungang, we have started the construction of a container hub at the port of Aktau," said Nurlan Sauranbayev.
At the end of the meeting, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the importance of intensifying work in these areas. According to him, the consistent implementation of the set objectives will lead to significant results in strengthening Kazakhstan’s position as a transit hub in Eurasia.
Founded by the government in 2002 as a joint stock company KTZ’s task is to develop, operate, and maintain railway transportation in Kazakhstan. It is headquartered in Astana.