Kazakhstan Railway as a Logistic Hub

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union Kazakhstan inherited a railway system spread over 15,000 km  connected to Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The land mass of Kazakhstan ,a landlocked country, covers an area of 2.7 million sq km. Kazakhstan is developing into a logistic hub between Europe, Middle East, Asia and Russia and also an integral component of China’s Belt Route Initiative (BRI). The Kazakh rail authorities did not remain complacent and enhanced the inherited rail grid to 21,000 km of track earning the distinction of becoming the world’s largest rail network.The rail gauge operates with a broad gauge of 1,520 mm and is compatible with the Russian broad gauge. Till last year Kazakhstan’s rail fleet boasted of slightly more then 1,700 electric and diesel locomotives and 2,300 passenger cars.

Rail a Priority

Credit Railway Gazette

Kazakhstan  launched a $ 9 billion nation wide project known as   Nurly Zhol or “bright path” with the emphasis being on prioritizing the upgradation and development of the country’s railways and roads with a special focus on the emerging economy of  China on its eastern flank.

Strategic Corridors

Credit South China Morning Post

China’s much touted BRI envisages three transportation corridors operating between China and Europe. These corridors are called the east corridor, central corridor and west corridor. The east and central corridors traverse through Russia and merge into the Trans-Siberian rail network. The west corridor has multiple lines and passes through Kazakhstan stretching all the way to Europe through Central Asia and branching off to Iran and Turkey. The west corridor has the distinction of circumventing the Russian land mass and in the wake of the Ukrainian conflict appeals to Europe as an alternate rail route . Moreover the transit time is significantly reduced and it take 5 days to cross Kazakhstan while the route from China to the Black Sea takes almost 14 days. The transportation of cargo  through rail from China- Central Asia – Russia- Black Sea and to the final destination in EU had previously been the preferred route.  After the conflict the upgradation of all sections in the western corridor and infrastructure is taking place at a rapid pace.

World’s biggest Dry Port

Credit The ASTANA TIMES

The world’s biggest dry port known as the Khorgos Gateway transfers cargoes between incoming and outgoing trains to China on different rail gauges and on an average receives and sends 24 trains daily with an annual turnover of 200,000 TEU’s.  Complicating matters is the fact that Kazakh and Chinese rail networks have different track gauges .The Kazakh rail gauge is  1520 millimetres and China has a standard West European railway gauge of 1,435mm having been originally designed, built, owned and operated by foreign companies. Direct transportation simply cannot take place  so the wagons are reloaded and the maximum time for one container train consisting of 45 to 50 cars is 55 minutes. The Gateway has a specialized container platform for the storage of more than 18,000 containers of 20 feet TEU’s.The range of services include modern transshipment equipment, latest automated accounting system for wagons and containers and processing, storage and transshipment of goods passing through the Kazakh-Chinese border. A report as far back as the year 2014 observed that in terms of speed and cost/ kilometre the train routes along the Belt and Road Initiative were highly competitive. It can be safely concluded that the route through Kazakhstan is economically viable ,shorter and runs parallel to oil pipelines and significantly such multimode transportation across the Caspian Sea avoids Russian sovereignty . The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan rail project crosses mountainous terrain and involves high construction costs likely to dissuade Kyrgyzstan to invest in the project. As such, this route may take longer to build therefore Kazakhstan remains the viable option. On the eastern front the Lianyungang port in China also serves as Kazakhstan’s gateway to sea transport with the port’s infrastructure being infused with investment from Kazakhstan. As Kazakhstan has the luxury to avail Russian ports being much closer to Kazakhstan with the same gauge hence China cannot monopolise the Kazakhstan rail routes .

Emulating Kazakh Rail

Credit Maschen Marshalling Yard Germany

The relatively rapid and strategic rise of Kazakhstan as a rail hub , bolstered partly by the pandemic and then by the Ukrainian conflict , is a tribute to the vision of Kazakhstan’s logistic planners. Pakistan and Iran, both having the advantage of seaports for handling trade of Central Asia, are straggling behind in development of rail network and infrastructure and remain bogged down in bureaucratic bottlenecks. Pakistan’s seaports can become the leading transit hub and route  to Central Asian Republics whereby the cost of freight for Central Asia cargoes would be a third of what it costs presently.It is an undisputed fact that rail freight is economically the lowest cost option. The mindset of railway’s stakeholders  in Pakistan seems decadent. If the elite in Iran, India and Pakistan were to travel more frequently by train  then the rail sector would have been at an advanced stage and the cost of goods transportation as well as the cost of doing business being lower and consequential economic benefits would accrue to the people.

By Nadir Mumtaz