Measures for further development of the railway industry considered at the Government session chaired by Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov. 

Minister of Transport Marat Karabaev reported that for 10 months the volume of cargo transportation by rail transport amounted to 246 million tons. This is more than 3% more than in the same period last year. This figure is expected to reach 300 million tons by the end of the year.

At present, the railroad fully meets the needs of the RK economy in the export direction. Since the beginning of the year, export transportation has reached 70.7 million tons with an increase of 8.5%.

Transit transportation is also actively developing. At the end of 10 months this volume increased by 19% to 22.5 million tons. At the same time, container transportation increased by 15%. The volume of passenger transportation for the reporting period increased by 2.5% to 16 million 600 thousand passengers.

As part of the fulfillment of the instructions of the Head of State, work is currently underway to further develop the transport and logistics potential of the republic. This concerns construction of new and repair of existing railway lines, modernization of nodal stations, renewal of rolling stock, increasing the capacity of border points, etc. The largest projects here are new railroad lines Dostyk - Moyinty (836 km), Bakhty - Ayagoz (272 km), Darbaza - Maktaaral (152 km) and bypass around Almaty (73 km).

In general, by 2029 the volume of transit freight traffic through Kazakhstan is planned to reach 35 million tons, as well as fully meet the needs of the domestic economy, taking into account the new projects. 

With a report on the activities of NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC and its transformation into a transport and logistics company, implemented on behalf of the Head of State, the Chairman of the Board of the national company Nurlan Sauranbayev.

Prime Minister noted that the railroad is one of the key areas of the transportation industry and the economy of the country as a whole.

"Our country is located in the center of the continent, at the junction of many international transport routes. Every year transit transportation through Kazakhstan between Asia and Europe grows. Last year, rail freight traffic between Kazakhstan and China alone amounted to over 23 million tons. This year, this figure increased by another 22%," Alikhan Smailov said.

According to him, in conditions of rapidly growing transportation volumes it is necessary to carry out systematic work on infrastructure development and renewal of rolling stock.

"For this purpose, in the next 3 years new railroad branches with a length of over 1 thousand km will be built. These are Dostyk-Moyinty, Bakhty-Ayagoz, Almaty bypass line. This week we will give a start to the beginning of construction of Darbaza-Maktaaral section," Prime Minister announced. 

He added that in order to upgrade the rolling stock more than 550 locomotives, as well as passenger and freight cars are purchased. In parallel with this, modernization of existing main railway networks with a total length of about 5 thousand km is being carried out.

As Head of the Government noted, today there is a high wear and tear of rolling stock and mainline networks, which reaches about 60%. This affects the speed of trains and the capacity of the railroad. 

"There are also issues with the registration of goods at the border, which affects the volume of transit, exports and imports. Therefore, it is necessary to create a "one window" for business with minimal time for consideration and preparation of documents. All services should work promptly and synchronously," Alikhan Smailov pointed out. 

According to him, there are also many complaints from the public about the activities of KTZ.

"These include systematic train delays, lack of proper service, and the condition of passenger cars. Business complains about late deliveries of railcars and shipments, lengthy procedures for various approvals. All this negatively affects the development of the entire economy," Prime Minister said. 

Prime Minister stressed that the railroad has a consistently high demand for machine-building, rail products and various equipment. At the same time, domestic manufacturers can not meet these needs, although there are many serious enterprises in the republic, the activities of which are related to the railroad. 

"Our manufacturers could expand production, create additional jobs, increase competence and output, ensure the growth of the domestic economy," Alikhan Smailov said. 

Summarizing the above, the Prime Minister instructed the Ministries of Transport, Finance, Agriculture, Border Service, Samruk-Kazyna JSC and KTZ to work out the issues of simplification of procedures for registration and passage of cargo by the end of the year.

"The terms of consideration should be reduced by at least 2 times," he pointed out.

In addition, the head of the Government outlined the need to intensify work on the renewal of the rolling stock fleet and reduce the level of wear and tear to 40% by 2029, as well as to develop a plan for the development of domestic production based on the needs of the railway industry.

"During the transformation of KTZ to prioritize the work of the national infrastructure operator - to ensure quality service and timeliness of services," Alikhan Smailov emphasized.

In conclusion, Prime Minister instructed to study the possibility of allocating additional grants for technical specialties of the transport industry and to consider the establishment of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Development.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Government session #Logistics #Transport