Rail

At a press conference on the results of the first half of 2024, Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev said that Kyrgyzstan is considering the possibility of using the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Currently, the bulk of cargo traffic passes through the southern corridor, which includes routes through Iran and Turkey to Europe and back. However, alternative routes are being considered that can speed up transportation, in particular, the Middle Corridor through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and the Caucasus.

From 1 January 2025, Lithuanian freight rail company LTG Cargo will begin the gradual liquidation of its wagon fleet, replacing it with a privately owned fleet of 6,000 units managed by LTG Cargo. The new wagons will be used in two ways: for long-term lease and for one-off services, with 10% of the wagons allocated to the reserve fleet.

A pilot train on the Korea-China-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan route was launched at the Kazakh-Chinese logistics terminal in the port of Lianyungang. Representatives of the railway administrations of all four countries took part in the opening ceremony, emphasizing the importance of the event for international trade and cooperation.

As part of the agreements between the presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on cargo transportation along the China-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan route, the container train covered a distance of 4,486 km in just 5 days. The freight train departed from the Chinese port of Xi’an, was reloaded at the KTZE Khorgos Gateway dry port and headed through the KTZ network to Saryagash station, and then to the final point – Tashkent station, the main transport hub of Central Asia.

In July, Greenpeace published a study, “Connection Failed”, analysing existing and potential direct rail and air connections between major European cities. The organisation called on the European Union and national governments to increase investment in rail infrastructure, as rail transport significantly reduces CO2 emissions.

JSC NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) is launching a program to increase the capacity of the railway infrastructure. In response to the growing demand for passenger and freight transportation, as well as the increase in transit freight traffic, the company will focus on the modernization of more than 180 railway stations. The program includes the construction of additional sidings, receiving and departure tracks and dispatch ramps, as well as the extension of existing tracks and the restoration of dismantled ones.

In the first half of 2024, investment in China’s transport sector reached 1.7 trillion yuan (US$234.4 billion). In 2023, this amount was 3.9 trillion yuan (about US$548.7 billion), including 764.5 billion yuan (about US$108 billion) for railway infrastructure, up 7.5% compared with 2022.

The closure of Europe’s most important railway line in the Rhine Valley near Rastatt from 9 to 30 August 2024 has caused significant disruption to freight traffic. The reduced capacity of the alternative routes via Gäubahn between Stuttgart and Singen was known in advance, limiting the number of trains and the permissible P386 profile.

Within the framework of the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, a project to integrate the Ukrainian railway system into the EU transport system was approved. The Coordination Committee of the program approved the application on July 16, 2024. The project envisages the improvement of the railway network and the development of the 1435 mm track to ensure the technological sum and increase the capacity of the railway infrastructure

At a meeting of the Subcommittee on Railway Transport of the Advisory Committee of the Eurasian Economic Commission, key issues of railway transport development were discussed. Subcommittee members considered the improvement of the provisions of the Treaty on the EAEU and the feasibility of scientific research on the prospects for the development of railway transport in modern economic conditions. They also discussed the section of the roadmap for the implementation of the Declaration on the Development of Economic Processes within the EAEU until 2030 and for the period until 2045, concerning railway transport.