ASTANA, Kazakhstan, November 27. Kazakhstan has begun construction of a new 152 km Darbaza – Maktaaral railway line in the Turkestan region in the direction of Uzbekistan, Trend reports.
The new railway line will help the country's transportation and transit potential.
A new checkpoint at the Kazakh-Uzbek state boundary will be established as part of the project.
Since the beginning of the year, the volume of freight transported by train between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan has totaled 25.8 million tons. The main cargo flow passes through the Saryagash station, which is now at capacity.
The construction of a new railway line will allow redirecting cargo from the existing Saryagash - Tashkent section to a new line, unloading the Saryagash station and increasing export traffic in the direction of Uzbekistan.
In addition, the project will contribute to the development of the Turkestan region by connecting it to the main railway network of the republic.
The project is divided into two stages. The first involves the construction of the line Erdaut - Maktaaral - the state border of Uzbekistan with access to the Syrdarya station.
The second stage involves the commissioning of the Zhetysay branch - the state border of Uzbekistan with access to the same station.
A total of 152 km of railway track will be built. For the project, it is planned to purchase 19,700 tons of rails, as well as 280,000 sets of reinforced concrete sleepers and rail fastenings.
The construction of a new railway line will create 3,400 jobs. The share of Kazakhstan's content in the project will be 85 percent.
