Astana Mayor Zhenis Kassymbek has announced that the city’s newly launched light rail transit (LRT) system, which connects the capital’s international airport with Nurly Zhol railway station, carried one million passengers during its first two weeks of operation. The elevated rail project, designed to bypass traffic congestion on city roads, was launched in 2011. Authorities initially planned to complete construction by 2017, in time for the international EXPO exhibition hosted by Astana. However, the project was suspended in 2013 amid rising costs, and a subsequent attempt to revive it two years later also failed to move forward. In 2019, authorities in Kazakhstan opened a criminal investigation into allegations of cost inflation and the embezzlement of public funds allocated to the project. Former Astana LRT chief Talgat Ardan and former deputy mayor Kanat Sultanbekov were accused of embezzling nearly 30 billion tenge, or approximately $79 million at the exchange rate at the time. In May 2023, both men were sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison. Despite the controversy, city authorities ultimately decided to complete the project, arguing that dismantling the partially built infrastructure would cost nearly as much as finishing construction. In May 2026, the first LRT line linking the airport and Nurly Zhol railway station officially entered service. One of the main concerns raised by critics was whether residents would embrace the new transport system, particularly given its higher fare. A single LRT trip costs 200 tenge ($0.41), compared with 110 tenge ($0.23) for a bus ride. However, Kassymbek said the system’s early performance had exceeded expectations. “Since the launch of the LRT, passenger traffic has reached one million passengers in just two weeks,” Kassymbek wrote on Instagram. “Daily ridership now stands at approximately 65,000-75,000 passengers. These figures demonstrate strong demand for the city’s new rail transit system among both residents and visitors. I thank all passengers for actively using the LRT, for their trust in the new transport system, and for their responsible attitude toward the infrastructure.” Each LRT train can carry up to 600 passengers. Fifteen driverless trains currently operate on the 22.4-kilometer line, with an additional four trains held in reserve. The system includes 18 stations and a maintenance depot. A full end-to-end journey takes approximately 40 minutes, with trains operating at average speeds of 50-60 kilometers per hour. Service intervals range from five to six minutes. Planning is also underway for the second phase of the network, which would run from Astana-1 railway station, the city’s older rail terminal, through the Zhagalau residential district on Astana’s western outskirts and onward to Kosshy, a fast-growing satellite city south of the capital. The proposed extension would span 26.5 kilometers and include 20 stations. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, former LRT project chief Talgat Ardan was detained in Turkey in May last year. However, he has yet to be extradited to Kazakhstan. According to officials in Kazakhstan, the delay stems from the absence of specific deadlines for processing extradition requests under the legal...
