Kazakhstan Temir Joly

National railway company of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ; , ; Казахстанские железные дороги), also National Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, is the national railway company of Kazakhstan.

Founded by the government in 2002 as a joint stock company KTZ’s task is to develop, operate, and maintain railway transportation in Kazakhstan. It is headquartered in Astana. Related stock companies own the rolling stock, the hauling equipment, and the passenger transport division. Repair facilities have been privatized. Private companies may own or rent rolling stock that can use the rail system.

The current rail network is based on the inheritance from the former Soviet Union and as such has a broad gauge of 1520mm. While this provides a smooth transit at international borders to countries of the former Soviet Union, the railway in China has the standard gauge of 1435mm; thus there is a break of gauge at Dostyk and at Khorgas/Altynkol. KTZ controls about track (2005) which is being expanded. The Kazakhstan sections of the old Trans Aral Railway, the Trans Caspian railway, and the Turkestan Siberia Railway have been incorporated into the KTZ. are electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz AC.

KTZ is the largest employer in Kazakhstan with 119,071 employees (2020). Approximately 1% of the Kazakh population are employed by the railroads and affiliated companies. It manages 46,800 freight wagons, 1,700 locomotives and 2,300 passenger cars. The company is profitable and its 2020 revenues were 1,173.3 billion Kazakhstani tenge. In 2020, the freight industry saw increases in overall tonnage of 3.5% versus the previous year, while passenger volume decreased by 54.5%.

100% of KTZ's shares are owned by the state through the Samruk Kazyna fund. Aidar Ryskulov is the chairman of the Board of Directors of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. Nurlan Sauranbayev is the chairman of the management board of the company.

Temir Zholy is a principal implementer of Kazakhstan’s New Silk Road Initiative and Nurly Zhol new economic policy.

The FEZ "Khorgos Eastern Gate" is a logistics center for the distribution of cargo flows on the New Silk Road near Nurkent and Khorgos, and further integrates Kazakhstan into the global transport and trade system, particularly between China and the European Union. KTZ is engaging on a major railroad project to link China and Southeast Asia to Europe for a length of 2400 mile (3862 km). Currently the plan is to run the railway through Turkmenistan to Iran; Iran is linked to Turkey and Europe's standard gauge system In May 2013, a new rail link opened between Uzen (Kazakhstan) and Serhetyaka (Turkmenistan), crossing the border at Bolashak. The railway is 146 km long and cost 65bn tenge. The railway is Russian gauge; there would be a break of gauge when the railway reaches the Iranian border. Construction for the new line will start at the eastern border town of Druzhba to go to Aktau on the Caspian Sea. Construction is expected to start in 2006 and take four years. The total cost of the project is $5–7 billion. A link from Aktau to Iran is also required. The transport corridor through Kazakhstan has the potential to provide a railway ship link between China and the east coast of North America through the Northern East West corridor.

In the early 2010s, a project for building a high speed railway between Astana and Almaty was actively discussed by the Kazakh and Chinese officials. However, in 2013 the project was postponed due to high cost.

Kazakhstan Temir Joly & AD Ports Group (ADX: ADPORTS) signed a joint venture agreement in December 2023 to improve rail connectivity, maritime shipping services, the growth of operations in Kazakhstan's ports, and to speed up digital transformation and connectivity in Central Asia.