Kazakhstan’s national railway company, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), announced on August 5 that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have launched the fastest ever cargo train service on the China-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan route.
The train on this new route now covers a distance of 4,486 km in a record five days.
The train departed from the Kazakh-Chinese terminal in Xi’an, China. The containers were then transshipped at the KTZE Khorgos Gateway dry port on the Kazakh-Chinese border, and traveled through Kazakhstan to the Saryagash station on the border with Uzbekistan, before reaching its final destination — Tashkent rail station, one of Central Asia’s major transport hubs.
The short-term increase in cargo transportation is attributed to the utilization of KTZ terminal capacities in China, and the collaborative efforts between the railway administrations of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to enhance their border infrastructure. Reconstruction and technological process improvements have increased the capacity of the Saryagash interstate junction station, a key hub for cargo flow between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, by 50%.
In 2023, the volume of cargo transportation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan exceeded 31 million tons, an increase of 17.2% compared to 2022.
