Kazakhstan
Adam Harangozó / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country on earth and the largest that is landlocked — 2,724,900 km² for about 20 million people, which works out at roughly seven to the square kilometre. Russia lies along the whole northern and western frontier, China to the east, and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the south; there is a long Caspian shore in the west. The country is mostly steppe, grading into semi-desert and desert in the south, with the Tian Shan and Altai on the eastern edges. Astana is the capital; Almaty, the capital until 1997, is still the largest city.
In a country this size with few motorways, the railway is how people actually cross the distance. The network is 1,520 mm Russian broad gauge, laid down under the Soviet Union to move grain, cotton and coal, and it is now run end to end by the state company Qazaqstan Temır Joly — founded in 1997, owner of the infrastructure and holder of a near-monopoly on long-distance passenger travel. Journeys are measured in nights rather than hours, and the operator sells the seats through its own online ticket system.
Rail journeys in Kazakhstan
Good to know
How long are Kazakh train journeys?
Long enough to be counted in nights. The country is roughly the size of western Europe and its cities are spread across it, so a run from Almaty in the south-east to the Caspian in the west is a multi-day proposition. That is the character of Kazakh rail travel and the reason the trains are laid out as they are — compartments, bedding and a samovar, rather than airline seating.
Why is the gauge Russian rather than standard?
Because the network was built as part of the Soviet system. All of it is 1,520 mm, which is what makes through running to Russia, Uzbekistan and the rest of Central Asia straightforward and through running to China a matter of changing gauge at the frontier. It is a single technical decision that still shapes every international journey out of the country.
Which name should I use for the cities?
The current official ones. Kazakhstan has renamed places repeatedly — the capital has been Akmola, Astana, Nur-Sultan and Astana again — and both Kazakh and Russian forms of most names remain in circulation. Using the current official spelling is the safest course; a timetable may still show the other.
Are there rail passes for Kazakhstan?
No. No pass scheme covers Kazakhstan and there is no national multi-journey ticket. Tickets are bought per journey through the operator's booking site, which handles Kazakh and Russian with partial English.