The 40th meeting of the Conference of General Directors of Railways of the Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD) took place in the capital of Kazakhstan, marking the organization’s 70th anniversary. Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov attended the event. The forum brought together more than 300 heads of railway administrations and transport companies from over 30 countries. OSJD unites a network of over 320,000 km, transporting approximately 5.5 billion passengers and approximately 5 billion tons of freight annually.
The anniversary meeting served as a platform for discussing the coordination of international transportation, infrastructure modernization, the implementation of paperless technologies and intelligent management systems, and personnel training for the industry. The head of government noted that railways play a key role in sustainable economic growth, and holding the conference in Kazakhstan is symbolic given the country’s geographic position as a hub of Eurasian transport routes.
Special attention was paid to the republic’s transit potential and the development of international corridors, including the Trans-Caspian route and the North-South corridor. Over the past 15 years, approximately $35 billion has been invested in the transport sector, with over 2,500 km of new highways built, and another 5,000 km of railways planned for construction in the next four years. By 2035, Kazakhstan aims to increase transit volumes to 100 million tons per year, while simultaneously developing digital solutions, including the TezCustoms platform, which has already reduced border clearance time with China from eight hours to 30 minutes.