Astana, Kazakhstan: The Chinese and Russian sides have agreed to initiate Eurasian high-speed railroad through the territory of Kazakhstan.
According to available information, Astana is negotiating deal for high speed train route that will pass through Russia and Kazakhstan and would link China with Europe. The route of high speed train will be Moscow- Kazan- Yekaterinburg- Chelyabinsk- Petropavlovsk- Kokshetau- Astana-Karaganda- Balkhash – Almaty (Kapshagai) – Altynkol.
State run Russian and Kazakh companies RZD and Temir Zholy will execute the project.
The project of the Eurasian high-speed corridor connecting China with Western Europe through the territory of Kazakhstan and Russia will bring positive change to several parts of Kazakhstan and Russia and will offer financial benefits to areas from where this route go through. The railway corridor “Eurasia” will pass from Berlin to Beijing through Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. The total length of the road is 9,447 km. By 2050, Eurasia plans to transport 20 million tons of cargo and about 37 million passengers a year. Nearly 8 trillion rubles are needed for the construction of high speed railway track of which 3.6 trillion are accounted for by the Russian part of the project.
Currently, Trans-Eurasia Logistics railway goes through a longer route that include Ulan Bator (part of Mangolia)-Irkutsk-Novosibirsk-Omsk and reaches Yekaterinburg. New route will further minimize travel time between China to Europe.
Trans-Eurasia Logistics railway is operational since October 2008 taking 17 days to send Chinese goods to Germany. It is expected that new proposed route will send cargo to Germany in 10 days— cutting the travel cost of 7 days.
