Kazakhstan considers railway modernization and plans to improve transit transport capacity

China News Service, Astana, June 16 (Reporter Shan Lu) The Kazakhstan government held a meeting on the 16th to review issues such as railway modernization and strengthening infrastructure construction. The meeting proposed that Kazakhstan will strengthen the construction of railway lines, expand port traffic capacity, and promote logistics cooperation with places such as Chengdu, Budapest and Constanta in China to enhance the country's transit transportation capabilities.

Kazakhstan Prime Minister Bektenov presided over the meeting that day. He said that the country is currently promoting the construction of new railway lines, the renewal of locomotives and carriages, the reconstruction of existing lines, and the reconstruction of railway stations. Two of the lines will be put into operation in November this year. Kazakhstan predicts that with the advancement of a series of construction and transformation, the country's transit transportation volume is expected to increase to 55 million tons this year.

The meeting requested relevant Kazakhstan departments to strengthen cooperation with the railway departments of neighboring countries to improve port traffic efficiency. According to the meeting arrangements, Kazakhstan will promote the construction of logistics nodes in the capital Astana and strengthen the docking of logistics infrastructure with Aliat, Svisloch, Selyadino and other places; in the next step, Kazakhstan will also promote relevant cooperation with Chengdu, Budapest, Constanta and other places.

Relevant Kazakhstan departments will also speed up the updating of railway vehicle equipment, planning to add 215 locomotives and about 1,500 freight and passenger carriages before the end of this year, and purchase 13,000 domestically produced freight carriages and 500 passenger carriages in Kazakhstan in the next five years.

In addition, the meeting also proposed to promote the digital construction of railway transportation, requiring the Kazakh Ministry of Transport to work with the Kazakhstan State Railways to establish a unified database before the end of this year to realize real-time management of the logistics chain, so as to improve the quality of railway transportation services and promote the growth of transit transportation and export freight. (over)