Kyrgyzstan is also working on other railways. Construction takes place in the area around the large Issyk-Kul lake. The country could connect this railway, which also links up to the capital city Bishkek and neighbouring Kazakhstan, to the CKU line.

“In the future, under favourable conditions, it is planned to extend it to Kara-Keche, and then also to Makmal, guaranteeing an additional rail connection between the north and south”, said Zhaparov. Makmal will be a key location on the CKU line, since China’s standard 1,435-millimetre gauge and the 1,520-millimetre gauge will meet there. Kyrgyzstan has already finished part of the railway to Kara-Keche.

The railway will have significant benefits to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Both countries are landlocked and stand to profit from diversified trade routes. There are concerns, however, about the railway’s financial costs and benefits. Particularly Kyrgyzstan will need to take on significant debts. Meanwhile, the railway is expected to have limited capacity in the mountainous terrain.

As a result, a new effort to boost and streamline transportation along the Middle Corridor’s southern route is underway. ETRIA can count on sympathy from more than just its members: the railway administrations of China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Türkiye, Austria and Azerbaijan all acknowledged the need for and supported the idea of improving the southern route. They also named the route, which goes through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye, the ‘Eurasian Transport Route’ (ETR).

“The purpose of establishing the association is to attract extra volumes of the transit cargo, develop integrated logistics products, create a unified technology for transportation processes, implement an efficient tariff policy, and optimise costs along the Eurasian Transport Route”, explains Secretary General of ETRIA, Rashad Majidov.

What’s on the agenda?

In 2026, ETRIA plans to assess current intermodal transportation along the route. It hopes to identify and eliminate bottlenecks and implement IT solutions and digital platforms for transportation management, scheduling, and manage resources and priorities.

ETRIA hopes to attract more members and absorb more countries into the Eurasian intermodal transport ecosystem. That includes countries on the trans-Afghan corridor, China and countries in the CEE region. In the long-term, the association strives to become “an enabler of increased trade and economic prosperity and a driver of growth in the countries benefiting from the ETR.”

Azerbaijan has assumed leadership over ETRIA, which the country sees as a success for its strategy to attract transit freight. It strengthens the position of ADY as one of the main operators in the region, Azerbaijani media write. That turns the country into a “strategic dispatch center where key decisions are made on the organisation of transit [along the ETR]”.

In turn, ADY cultivates a capacity to influence tariff policies, standardise logistics procedures, develop digital platforms for transport coordination and attract international investments in rail projects.

Rhenus Logistics says that it will share its expertise on multimodal logistics, terminal development and rail freight. That includes consulting and analytical work, as well as the exchange of know-how and employee training.

“With this Memorandum, we are taking another decisive step in our mission along the Trans-Caspian Corridor”, explains Heinrich Kerstgens, Director of Board Projects at Rhenus Group. “As a family-owned company with a long-term vision and international footprint, we believe in strong partnerships and early investment in regions that are redefining their role in global logistics. Together with the national railway, we are committed to supporting the development of future-oriented logistics infrastructure in Kyrgyzstan and contributing to a more connected and resilient logistics landscape in Central Asia”, Kerstgens concludes.

China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan

Rhenus Logistics points to the CKU line, which will connect China and Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan, as a key ongoing infrastructure project. It will connect Kyrgyzstan to the Middle Corridor and reduce the distance between China and Europe by several hundred kilometres compared to existing routes through Kazakhstan, Rhenus explains.

“Beyond improving connectivity, the project also opens new opportunities for cooperation in rail logistics and infrastructure development – areas where Rhenus can actively contribute its expertise to support the region’s integration into global trade networks.”

At the same time, Uzbek Railways’ container subsidiary, O’ztemiryo’lkonteyner, has organised a new multimodal service between the two countries. It agreed with the Chinese company Vostosun Group to organise container transportation. First, the containers will leave China by ship to Iran. Once in the Iranian Bandar-Abbas port, they will continue via rail into Turkmenistan, before arriving in Uzbekistan.

Bedel was mentioned earlier as a justification for the Transeurasia line. It is a mountain pass on the border between China and Kyrgyzstan. The two countries plan to open a road border crossing there, but it seems that rail may join the future road through the Bedel pass.

Were all these plans come to fruition, Kyrgyzstan could become a much bigger player on the Central Asian rail scene than it is now. There are, however, questions about what these railways can really accomplish. For one, they are bound to be expensive: Kyrgyzstan is a very mountainous country, which raises construction costs and limits throughput capacity with higher traction requirements.

Happy Kyrgyz

At the same time, neighbouring Kazakhstan has an established railway network in a much more forgiving landscape. Kyrgyz rail is unlikely to be competitive for China – Europe traffic at the very least. On the other hand, Kyrgyzstan is enthusiastic despite the high costs. The landlocked country hopes to achieve better connectivity with the outside world, which could boost its trade.

The new rail plans were revealed in the Kyrgyz government’s 2030 national development programme. Kyrgyzstan plans to build a railway between Batken, a minor city in the country’s south, to Kokand, a relatively large city in Uzbekistan’s densely populated Ferghana valley.

According to the government programme, the railway should help improve transport infrastructure, trade and job creation. Even though Kyrgyzstan provides no official such explanation, it seems likely that the country hopes to boost agricultural exports from the peripheral Batken region.

The town is located on the very southern edge of the fertile Ferghana valley. That valley mostly belongs to Uzbekistan. Kokand, located in said valley, is a major logistics node in Uzbekistan. Various railways and roads come together in the city – allowing for freight to be transported in multiple directions.

In connection with rail, the name of Makmal first surfaced in CKU line plans. Planners chose the place as the location of a gauge transfer hub. On the way from China to Uzbekistan, trains need to switch from China’s standard gauge rail infrastructure to Central Asia’s broad gauge.

It seems highly probable that the choice for the transfer hub befell Makmal with gold exports in mind. In that way, it would secure extra demand for transport on the rather expensive rail line. It will reportedly cost around 4,7 billion dollars. The payback time of the rail has subquently been a point of discussion. It will likely take decades because Kyrgyzstan earns the investment back.

Transeurasian line

Makmal will now also be the starting point for another expensive cross-country rail line, albeit in the other direction of the country. The so-called Transeurasian line will extend all the way to Karakol. That town is located beyond the Issyk-Kul lake and close to the Chinese border. The All American Rail Group, an American rail consortium, will fund the three billion dollar investment. After 35 years, it will hand over the line to the Kyrgyz state.

“Passenger and freight transport, logistics, is being considered. Because a new [border] post with China, ‘Bedel’, is being opened, in this direction there will be a boost of the economy. The rail line itself was built in the Soviet Union until the city of Balykchi, now we will be extending it to Karakol, which is around 200 kilometres”, a Kyrgyz investment official said.

For Kyrgyzstan, the project is one of high economic importance. It is landlocked in the mountains of Central Asia, and is not connected to any major international transportation corridors. An international rail connection to China and Uzbekistan could provide more opportunities for trade, stresses the country’s president. “This route will ensure supply of goods from China to Kyrgyzstan and then onto Central Asia” and nearby countries “including Turkey” and “even to the European Union”, he said.

Billions of dollars

For that reason, Kyrgyzstan is willing to put a lot of money on the table. It remains a bit unclear how much the approximately 450-kilometre long rail line is going to cost exactly, but most detailed accounts of the project talked about 4,7 billion dollars. Others mentioned figures of up to 8 billion.

Both are rather large sums of money for the countries in the region, save China. In 2022, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan predicted that the country would make 200 million dollars from the line on an annual basis, and that the line would pay itself back eventually.

The CKU railway

The CKU rail line will stretch for over 450 kilometres, from Kashgar, in China, through the Torugart Pass on the China-Kyrgyzstan border to Andijan, in eastern Uzbekistan. Construction of the new infrastructure reportedly commenced in October, with the three countries involved establishing a joint venture.

However, one question mark remains concerning the costs of such a project, with estimations swinging between 4.7 and eight billion US dollars. What is known is that China will be the one doing the heavy (financial) lifting, with 51 per cent of the funding coming from Beijing. The rest will be equally split between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Besides Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan’s nearby capital city of Bishkek has also been discovered by Chinese trains. Container goods from the island of Hainan are now being sent to Bishkek first via maritime transport, and afterward by rail via the Central Chinese logistics hub of Wuhan. The route, operated by Cosco, cuts travelling times by 7 days and costs by 20 per cent, the logistics company says.

China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan

China is increasingly looking to Central Asia as a transit hub for its goods, but also as export markets. Earlier this year, China also launched a rail service to Uzbekistan, bordering both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. For now, all these transport services go through Kazakhstan, since the country has a developed rail network that is connected to its Chinese counterpart.

However, China is also financing the majority of the anticipated China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan line, the construction of which is supposed to start this month. It would offer an alternative route and additional capacity for China – Central Asian services.

European Silk Road Summit 2024

Central Asian rail freight will be one of the key topics to be discussed at the European Silk Road Summit 2024, taking place in Vienna on 27-28 November.

Registrations for the yearly event are already open, while the programme, which this year highlights the fast-recovering China-Europe rail market, is shaping up.