Go, Kazakhstan!

Railway Track and Structures, July, 2004 by Tom Judge

Kazakhstan? Didn't he play for the Chicago Blackhawks a few seasons ago? Mention Kazakhstan and that's the kind of answer you're likely to get from the typical man-in-the-street. But, apparently, there's something in the water or the air in that part of Central Asia that stimulates the brains of the political leaders, causing them to shed shortsightedness and spend some big bucks for the future growth of the country.

In late May, the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the country's railway, unveiled plans "to build a high-speed Pan-Eurasian railway system that will link China with the European Union and will be instrumental in developing a free trade zone between China and Kazakhstan and in transporting oil from the Caspian Sea region to markets in China and Europe."

Scheduled for completion in 2010, the new railway will add 2,450 miles to existing tracks and will run from Urumqi in China through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey to connect with the EU. The railway will enter Europe through an 8.7-mile tunnel under the Bosphorus strait. Once the entire railway is standardized and completed, it will run from China to seaports on the North Sea near Hamburg, Germany. Total cost is expected to be between $5 billion and $7 billion.

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Today's KTZ dates from the Soviet era, with broad-gauge track incompatible with connecting systems. The new system will not only have standard-gauge track, but also a fiber-optic cable running alongside that will offer both high-speed data transmission and highly-sophisticated car-tracking systems.

This kind of project in a back-of-beyond republic little more than a decade out of the stultifying restrictions of the old Soviet Union surprises me and frustrates me at the same time. If Kazakhstan can carry out this kind of bold railway project, why can't the U.S.?

Here, in North America, how close are we to a rail connection to Alaska from the Lower 48 states, with perhaps a crossing of the Bering Sea to Russia? We're much closer to attempting to put a man on Mars than we are to railing North Dakota wheat to the voracious Russian market.

Even small rail projects seem to miss the radar screens of our leaders in Washington. For example, they seem to be more worried about making Amtrak self-sufficient financially-something no passenger-rail system in the world achieves--than even considering what rail passenger service can do to relieve the traffic stresses on our nation's airports and highways.

Little Kazakhstan plans to borrow billions to make its railroad part of a global system. They believe it will put them on the map and help bring prosperity to their small corner of Asia.

Will we ever see that kind of thinking on a large scale in the U.S.? It's not likely, but it's certainly worth striving for.

Tom Judge, Editor