Transport in Kyrgyzstan

Additional problems are because many roads and railway lines built during the Soviet period are today intersected by international boundaries, requiring time-consuming border formalities to cross where they are not completely closed.

Following the emergence of independent post-Soviet states, the rail lines which were built without regard for administrative boundaries have been cut by borders, and traffic is therefore severely curtailed.

The small bits of rail lines within Kyrgyzstan, about 370 km of 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) broad gauge in total, have little economic value in the absence of the former bulk traffic over long distances to and from such centers as Tashkent, Almaty and the cities of Russia.

There are vague plans about extending rail lines from Balykchy in the north and/or from Osh in the south into the People's Republic of China, but the cost of construction would be enormous.

[citation needed] By their status the roads of the Ministry of Transport and Communications are classified as: By nature of surface there can be distinguished: Frequent bus and, more commonly, minibus, service connects country's major cities.

[3] At the end of the Soviet period there were about 50 airports and airstrips in Kyrgyzstan, many of them built primarily to serve military purposes in this border region so close to China.