{"id":162984,"date":"2024-12-31T18:17:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T08:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=58772"},"modified":"2024-12-31T18:17:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T08:17:45","slug":"kyrgyzstan-starts-building-cku-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=162984","title":{"rendered":"Kyrgyzstan starts building CKU line"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president speaking on live national television, wearing a traditional hat and with flares of the national colours against a mountainous background; such prominent attention is not usually associated with the rail industry. Nevertheless, that is how Kyrgyzstan officially announced the kick-off of works on the much-anticipated China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan (CKU) line. Evidently, the country has high expectations for its future international rail connections.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The CKU line is officially in its construction phase, which was earlier expected to commence in October. The line is supposed to connect China with Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan. Building the line is a rather costly and complex affair, considering that the vast majority of the line will be located in mountainous and seismically active Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz Railways has stated that construction could take up to six years.<\/p>\n

For Kyrgyzstan, the project is one of high economic importance. It is landlocked in the mountains of Central Asia, and is not connected to any major international transportation corridors. An international rail connection to China and Uzbekistan could provide more opportunities for trade, stresses the country\u2019s president. “This route will ensure supply of goods from China to Kyrgyzstan and then onto Central Asia” and nearby countries “including Turkey” and “even to the European Union”, he said.<\/p>\n

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An approximation of the route of the CKU line. Image: Infogram. \u00a9 RailFreight.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Billions of dollars<\/h2>\n

For that reason, Kyrgyzstan is willing to put a lot of money on the table. It remains a bit unclear how much the approximately 450-kilometre long rail line is going to cost exactly, but most detailed accounts of the project talked about 4,7 billion dollars. Others mentioned figures of up to 8 billion.<\/p>\n

Both are rather large sums of money for the countries in the region, save China. In 2022, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan predicted that the country would make 200 million dollars from the line on an annual basis, and that the line would pay itself back eventually.<\/p>\n