Syed Fazl-e-Haider
On March 3, a new container rail service linking the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Poland was launched in Kazakhstan. This service is a collaboration between Kazakh transportation service KTZ Express and China Railway Container Transport. The route will start in the PRC and pass through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Türkiye, then enter Europe, ending in Poland. The route will ensure uninterrupted cargo delivery between these countries and improve international logistics (The Astana Times, March 4). By launching such a project, Kazakhstan is asserting its role as a key transit hub in the wake of the $8 billion China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway launched in December 2024 (see EDM, May 7, July 17, 2024; Global Times, December 27, 2024). The CKU railway is emerging as a competitor to Kazakhstan’s rail infrastructure for the transportation of goods between the PRC and Europe. Currently, rail traffic to and from the PRC must transit through Kazakhstan, as it is the only Central Asian country connected to the PRC by rail. With the completion of the CKU railway, Kyrgyzstan will have a direct railway connection to the PRC, and Uzbekistan will have the option of traveling to the PRC via Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan by rail (Eurasianet, January 7).
In December 2024, a launching ceremony was held in the border city of Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan, to mark the commencement of the CKU railway project. The CKU railway, a part of the PRC’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, aims to provide a faster and more cost-effective alternative to the existing routes connecting the PRC to Europe, which traverse Kazakhstan and Russia. Starting from Kashi in the PRC’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the CKU railway line will pass through the Torugart Pass into Kyrgyzstan and then through Jalal-Abad, ending in the city of Andijan in Uzbekistan (Global Times, December 27, 2024).
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