Halfway around the world – twelve time zones from the US Midwest – lies Kazakhstan, the world’s ninth largest country and the world’s largest landlocked country.  Kazakhstan is an emerging world player for at least two reasons.  First, Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia, situated among multiple high growth economies: most importantly, China to the East, Russia to the North, and India to the south, and it is a critical transit location between these countries. Second, Kazakhstan is blessed with a significant supply of raw materials valued by the world economy, including oil, grain, coal, iron ore, and titanium.  Kazakhstan is the world’s seventh-largest producer of grain and tenth largest producer of crude oil.

Temir Zholy, or “KTZ,” is investing in its infrastructure to support its robust export sector.  The large railway is close in size to Canadian Pacific Railway as measured by network size, tonne-kilometers, and active rolling stock fleets.  The KTZ network of 14,000 kilometers serves all of the country’s population centers and directly connects to five countries.  KTZ also serves the country’s coal, iron ore, and oil production areas.   Read the full post…