A new 272-kilometer railway line from Ayagoz in eastern Kazakhstan to Bakhty on the border with China’s Altay region has begun construction.
The Bakhty-Ayagoz railway line is expected to significantly increase capacity from 28 million tonnes to around 48 million tonnes, according to the Kazak government The double-track railway is scheduled to open in 2027.
The mega project will see eleven stations, 47 bridges, 23 railways, eight road overpasses, five pedestrian bridges built as part of the project.
Some 500,000 sleepers and 36 tonnes of rails are planned to be used in the construction.
Back in June during the China-Central Asia summit in Xi’an, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov agreed to start building the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway “immediately.”
The CKU railway, first proposed in the 1990s, is expected to span approximately 523 kilometres with an estimated cost $4.5 billion, and aspires to be part of the southern route for the China-Europe freight rail.
Trains would travel from China to Europe via Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Turkey, cutting travel time by an estimated 900 kilometres and eight days.
While no official route details have been released, a Kyrgyz National Railway proposal suggests that the Kyrgyzstan segment of the railway will connect to China’s Kashgar Rail Terminus in Xinjiang and Uzbekistan’s rail network in Andijan via the Torugart-Arpa-Makmal-Jalal-Abad corridor.
The Lowy Institute reports that this China stands to gain several strategic advantages from the CKU railway. It allows for less reliance on Russian transit routes while still maintaining efficient rail trade with Europe.
Furthermore, the railway promotes control in Xinjiang (also known as East Turkestan) and aligns with Beijing’s Central Asian geopolitical interests.
This is consistent with China’s broader foreign policy goals, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to improve connectivity and economic cooperation throughout Eurasia.
