Deutsche Bahn signed an agreement with Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ) for further cooperation related to consulting services for passenger transport and rail freight.
The agreement was signed on September 28, 2023, between KTZ and DB Engineering & Consulting (DB E&C), during a visit to Germany of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The new contract will run for three years. DB E&C has already provided consulting services to KTZ’s passenger transport division in the past.
“We are delighted with the new contract and the confidence that KTZ has placed in us. Together, we will develop Kazakhstan Railways into a modern competitive company, from corporate governance through to the services offered to customers,” said Niko Warbanoff, Chairman of the Managing Board of the DB E.C.O. Group, which also includes DB E&C.
One aim of the consulting work in rail freight transport is to increase traffic between Kazakhstan and Central Europe on the Eurasian corridor and integrate it into the European transport system.
The agreement with Kazakhstan Railways is a continuation of the successful cooperation that began in 2019, the economic effect of which amounted to about KZT 12 billion (more than EUR 25 million).The two strategic partners plan to implement projects on intermodal transport, develop hub systems, introduce best practices in marketing, service and sales, which will help improve the quality of services for the country’s population.
In the first nine months of this year, the volume of cargo transiting Kazakhstan increased by 700,000 tonnes to 190.7 million tonnes compared to the same period of 2022. More than 77.6 million of coal were transported, including 54.3 million tonnes of coal produced by Kazakhstan and 23.3 million from export. In January – September grain transport increased by 41.2%, to 8.5 million tonnes. Exports increased by 54%, to 7 million tonnes while the volume of domestic transport amounted to 1.5 million tonnes, which is 1.5% higher than the same period in 2022. Transport of chemical fertilizers also increased by 6%, to 3.1 million tonnes, iron ore by 3.1%, to 15.3 million tonnes. At the end of 9 months of 2023, operational cargo turnover increased by 7.5% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 201 billion t-km.
In the last ten years, the container traffic between Kazakhstan and China exceeded 6.5 million containers, while volumes in the China – Europe – China direction increased more than 100 times.
Kazakhstan is part of the Trans Caspian International Transport Route (ТМТМ) on which the freight transport increased by 85.3% in January – August 2023, reaching more then 1.7 million tonnes.
The transit through the Kazakhstan territory is expected to significantly increase reaching 35 million tonnes per year by 2030.
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