As of 2020, no operationalhigh-speed rail systems exist inKazakhstan. Two links are planned – betweenAlmaty andAstana, and an international link betweenMoscow andBeijing that would go through the country.
In November 2013 the proposed Astana (then Nur-Sultan)–Almaty high speed railway was postponed due to high costs and doubts over passenger numbers.[1]
Previously in March 2013,Qazaqstan Temir Zholy, the national rail company of Kazakhstan, awarded a contract to Systra to oversee the design and construction of a high-speed line from Astana, the country's capital, toAlmaty, its largest city.[2][3] The line was expected to be 1,011 km (628 mi) long, and was supposed to travel viaKaraganda andBalkhash.[2][3] A 10 km (6.2 mi) viaduct acrossLake Balkhash was planned nearSayaq.[2][3] The trains were expected to be built by Tulpar-Talgo (a joint venture established in 2011 between Qazaqstan Temir Zholy and Spanish companyTalgo),[4] with a maximum speed of 250 km/h (155 mph), completing the trip in five and a half hours.[2][3] The system would useRussian gauge, the same as used by Kazakhstan's existing conventional lines.[2][3]
In 2015, aRussian Railways official said that the Moscow-Beijing HSR line would pass through either Russia'sAltai Republic orKazakhstan. The difference in length between the two proposed routes would be 290 km (180 miles).[5]
In 2021, the Kazakh Prime MinisterAsqar Mamin announced plans to extend thehigh-speed rail line terminating inTashkent, Uzbekistan across the border toShymkent andTurkistan.[6]