Countries in Afghanistan’s vicinity have grown an interest in developing its rail infrastructure. More and more projects are being launched, or are at the very least being considered, that would elevate the country to an international “rail bridge” to the Indian Ocean. What are these projects, and what motivates these countries? As the desert dust…
Category: Kazakhstan
The Middle Corridor remains too expensive as an alternative China-Europe route
The Middle Corridor, a multimodal China-Europe freight route through Central Asia, has garnered international interest as a potential alternative to transporting freight through Russia. Illustratively, the EU has allocated 10 billion euros for its development. The corridor remains too expensive to become a route of preference, explains Roland Verbraak, general manager of BTTMultimodalGroup. BTT, a…
Kazakhstan, China and Russia building transport hub near Moscow
Kazakhstan, China and Russia have started building a joint transport hub. The hub will be built at the Selyatino station in Russia’s Moscow region. The hub is supposed to improve transport links between Russia and the Kazakh-Chinese terminal in Xi’an, China. Earlier this year, the Russian firm Slavtrans signed a memorandum of understanding with Kazakh…
Kazakh Railways once again requests higher track access charges: 20,3% increase
Kazakh Railways (KTZ) has once again requested approval for an increase of track access charges. The request for a 20,3 per cent increase comes after the loss-making rail company saw an earlier price hike cancelled by the government. According to the Association of Kazakh rail freight carriers, KTZ is insisting on a 20,3 per cent…
KTZ temporarily bans agricultural exports to China after border overload
Kazakh Railways (KTZ) has temporarily banned the export of agricultural goods via rail to China. KTZ explains the ban by referring to overloaded border crossings. At the Dostyk and Khorgos border crossings, 180 and 100 covered goods wagons respectively are waiting to be processed. According to KTZ, the Chinese railways do not unload the wagons…
Kazakhstan cancels rail freight price hikes after business dismay
Kazakhstan has cancelled Kazakh Railways’ freight price hikes. Earlier, the planned price increases led to dismay among Kazakh businesses due to worries about their competitiveness. Roman Sklyar, deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, cancelled the increase of so-called price limits for Kazakh Railways (KTZ). The price limits are used to calculate fees for transporting freight on…
Kazakh exporters worried as KTZ plans another fee hike
Kazakh Railways (KTZ) wants to raise its fees for rail freight. The rail operator and infrastructure manager points to its outstanding debt as the culprit for a potential price hike. KTZ earlier received criticism for frequently raising its fees. Kazakh exporters are worried about their competitiveness. KTZ applied to the Kazakh Ministry of National Economy…