The national railway company of Kazakhstan

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

Founded by 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 1.520 mm.

KTZ controls about 15.000 km 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 become incorporated into the KTZ. 3.000 km are electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz AC.

KTZ is the largest employer in Kazakhstan with about 143.000 employees (2008). It manages over 80,000 wagons, 50.000 of them state-owned, and the remain in private hands. While most of the hauling is done by diesel engines, electrification of track is an ongoing project. The company is profitable and its 2008 revenue was 483.8 billion Kazakhstani tenge (US$3.9 billion).

The potential of Kazakhstan to act as a transit in the trade between China, Europe, and even the eastern coast of America, as envisioned in the Trans-Asian Railway proposal, has not yet been fulfilled. Current rail transport between China and Europe as part of the Eurasian Land connection goes over the Trans-Siberian railway, is time consuming, because of bogie exchanges.

KTZ has established the Trans Kazakhstan Trunk Railways (TKTR), a major railroad project to connect China, Southeast Asia and Europe with over 2.400 miles (3.862 km) route. China and most of Europe use the standard rail gauge of 1,435 mm, and the TKTR will utilize the same gauge, avoiding costly delays at bogie exchange stations. The route to Europe will be shortened and rebuilt for high speed. It is estimated that it will be possible eventually to ship cargo in 7-10 days (half the current time by rail) from China’s ports to Europe. The sea transport takes about 40-65 days. The railway would also open up Kazakhstan areas for exploration of minerals and oil. Currently the plan is to run the railway through Turkmenistan to Iran; Iran is linked to Turkey and Europe's standard gauge system.

An alternative route would be build with a standard gauge through Russia and either Belorussia or Ukraine to connect the European standard rail system. Such line would shorten China-Europe connection and also compete with the Trans-Siberian railway.

The transport corridor through Kazakhstan has the potential to provide a railway shipment between China and the east coast of North America through the North East West corridor.

Rail Transport in Finland

The Finnish railway network consists of a total of 5.919 km of railways built with 1.524 mm Russian gauge track. Total track length including sidings is 8.816 track-km. Total length of railway routes is 5.919 km and 3.067 km of routes are electrified.

Passenger trains are operated by the private state-owned VR Group. They serve all the major cities and many rural areas, though railway connections are available to fewer places than bus connections. Most passenger train services originate or terminate at Helsinki Central railway station, and a large proportion of the passenger rail network radiates out of Helsinki. VR also operates freight services. Maintenance and construction of the railway network itself is the responsibility of the Finnish Rail Administration, which is a part of the Finnish Transport Agency. The network is divided in six areal centres, that manage the use and maintenance of the routes in co-operation. Cargo yards and large stations may have their own signalling systems.

Finnish trains have a reputation for being spacious, comfortable and clean. The scenery surrounding the railway lines is considered to be of outstanding natural beauty, especially in Eastern Finland where there are many lakes. Because in most parts of Finland the density of population is low, Finland is not very well suited for railways. Commuter services are nowadays rare outside the Helsinki area, but there are express train connections between most of the cities. As in France, passenger services are mostly connections from various parts of the country to the capital, Helsinki. Currently there are 260 passenger round trips driven daily in Finland, excluding Helsinki commuter rail. Nightly passenger trains only operate on the busiest lines between Helsinki or Turku via Oulu to Lapland. This leaves most of the tracks free for nightly freight traffic. In addition there are also good express bus and airplane connections, both of which are generally little or a lot more expensive than trains. Buses are sometimes faster and cheaper than trains.

While some private Finnish railways were already electrified at the end of the 19th century, work on the electrification of the main rail network started only in the late 1960s. Most main lines are now electrified. The system used is 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead wiring, with wire height varying from 5.6 m to 6.5 m. The largest class of electric locomotives are the Sr1 locomotives that were taken into use in 1973. They are now supplemented by the Sr2 class and the high-speed Sm3 Pendolino units.

The maximum speed for passenger traffic is 220 km/h, but is achieved only between Kerava and Lahti. Freight trains have a maximum speed of 120 km/h. Actual speed limits vary depending on the train type and track portion. Some delays can occur in autumn and winter due to weather conditions.

Russia is the most important adjacent country regarding railway traffic. The freight traffic is much more intensive between Russia and Finland, compared to between Sweden and Finland. There are several daily passenger trains between Russia and Finland, but none between Sweden and Finland.