The TransKazakhstanTrunk Railways Project
The potential of Kazakhstan to act as a transit in the trade between China, Europe, and even the eastern coast of America, as envisioned in the Trans-Asian Railway proposal, has not yet been fulfilled. Current rail transport between China and Europe as part of the Eurasian Land Bridge goes over the Trans-Siberian railway, is lengthy, and requires bogie exchanges.
KTZ is engaging on the TransKazakhstaniTrunk Railways (TKTR), a major railroad project to link China and Southeast Asia to Europe for a length of 2,400 miles (3,862 km). China and most of Europe use the standard rail gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in), and the TKTR will utilize the same gauge, avoiding costly delays at bogie exchange stations. The route to Europe will be shortened and laid out for high speed. It is estimated that it will be possible eventually to ship cargo in 7-10 days (half the current time by rail) from China’s ports to Europe. The sea transport takes about 40-65 days. A similar project was already proposed in the 1930s but vetoed by Joseph Stalin. The railway would also open up areas of Kazakhstan for exploration of minerals and oil. Currently the plan is to run the railway through Turkmenistan to Iran; Iran is linked to Turkey and Europe's standard gauge system.
Construction for the new line will start at the eastern border town of Druzhba to go to Aktau on the Caspian Sea. Construction is expected to start in 2006 and take four years. The total cost of the project is $ 5-7 billion. A link from Aktau to Iran is also required.
An alternative route would be to build a standard gauge link through Russia and either Belarus or Ukraine to match the European standard rail system. Such a line would shorten the China-Europe connection but also compete with the Trans-Siberian railway.
The transport corridor through Kazakhstan has the potential to provide a railway-ship link between China and the east coast of North America through the Northern East West corridor.
Read more about this topic: Qazaqstan Temir Zholy
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