High-speed rail in Kazakhstan

[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, to Almaty, its largest city.

[2][3] The line was expected to be 1,011 km (628 mi) long, and was supposed to travel via Karaganda and Balkhash.

[2][3] The trains were expected to be built by Tulpar-Talgo (a joint venture established in 2011 between Qazaqstan Temir Zholy and Spanish company Talgo),[4] with a maximum speed of 250 km/h (155 mph), completing the trip in five and a half hours.

[2][3] In 2015, a Russian Railways official said that the Moscow-Beijing HSR line would pass through either Russia's Altai Republic or Kazakhstan.

[5] In 2021, the Kazakh Prime Minister Asqar Mamin announced plans to extend the high-speed rail line terminating in Tashkent, Uzbekistan across the border to Shymkent and Turkistan.