ASTANA (TCA) — On July 18, a train loaded with flour was sent from Kazakhstan’s Kostanay station on the route through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, the press office of Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) said.
The length of the route Kostanay – Bolashak – Serhetabad (Turkmenistan) is more than 3,500 kilometers. The new train consists of more than fifty wagons with a cargo weight of 3,300 tons net.
“Kazakhstan holds the leading positions in the world for the production of grain. The main task of the railway is to ensure timely and high-quality transportation of agricultural products, including this strategic cargo. The development of transportation along the new route will increase the transit potential of Kazakhstan, reduce turnover and accelerate the return of rolling stock by 2-2.5 times,” Mukhtar Zhambulov, Deputy General Director for Operations of KTZ-Freight Transportation JSC said.
From the beginning of 2018, 4.2 million tons of Kazakh grain was delivered for export, which is 56 percent more than in the same period last year. A total of 1.2 million tons of flour was transported, which is eight percent more than in the past year.
Products of Kazakhstan’s agricultural producers are sent mainly to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
Kazakhstan aims to become a transport hub on railway routes from Europe to Asia.
