Trans-Aral Railway
A view from the train while travelling along the path of the Trans-Aral Railway. Much of the railway cuts across the vast, rolling Kazakh Steppe
Overview
Other name(s)Tashkent Railway
StatusOperational
Owner
Locale
Termini
Stations42
Service
Type
Operator(s)
History
Commenced1888–1906
Built eraRussian Empire
Technical
Line length9,200[1] km (5,700 mi)
Number of tracks2
CharacterInternational rail link
Track gauge1,520 mm (4 ft 11+2732 in)
Old gauge1,524 mm (5 ft) as built
Route map

Don–Fergana main line
to Krasnodar & Taman
Rostov-on-Don
Moscow-Crimea main line
Liski
to Voronezh
Bobrov
Khrenovaya
Talovaya
Koleno
Novokhopyorsk
Kalmyk
Povolyno
Balashov
Arkadak
Rtishevo II
Blagodatka
Ekaterinovka
Atkarsk
to Saratov
Petrovsk
to Saratov
Sennaya
to Syzlan-Gorod & Ulyanovsk
Volsk II
Volga river
Balakovo
to Saratov & Ershov
Pugachevo
Novoperelyuskaya
to Samara & Buzuluk
Pogromnoe
Sorochinskaya
Novosergievskaya
to Orsk, Tobol & Astana
Orenburg
Donguzkaya
Iletsk I
Karatogay
Aktobe
Alga
Aral
Baikonur / Tyuratam
Kyzylorda
Turkistan
Arys I
to Almaty
Tashkent
to Samarkand
Zhaloir
Angren
Kamchiq tunnel
to Khuchand
Pop
Namangan
former line to Uchkurgan
to Uchkurgan & Kirgyzstan
Hakkulobod
Paytug
Andizhan I
to Fergana

The 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+2732 in) broad gauge Trans-Aral Railway (also known as the Tashkent Railway) was built in 1906 connecting Kinel and Tashkent, then both in the Russian Empire.[2][3] For the first part of the 20th century it was the only railway connection between European Russia and Central Asia.

An extensive description of the newly built railway was published in 1910.[4]

Construction history

Railway station in Tashkent 1903

There were plans to construct the Orenburg–Tashkent line as early as 1874. Construction work did not start, however, until the autumn of 1900. The railway was simultaneously built from both ends toward a common junction. It opened in January 1906, linking the existing network of Russian and European railways to the Trans-Caspian Railway.

On January 1, 1905, the KinelOrenburg section of the Samara–Zlatoust line was joined to the Tashkent railway.

The Kinel–Tashkent Railway was the first line to be built across the steppe, replacing the multiple routes once used by caravans with a single, steel path. It introduced the Kazakhs to industrial modernity and tied the distant Governor-Generalship of Turkestan more firmly to the Russian metropole, allowing troops to be rushed to Central Asia and raw cotton to be exported to Moscow's textile mills.[5]

Economic impact

Because of the American Civil War, cotton shot up in price in the 1860s, becoming an increasingly important commodity in the region, although its cultivation was on a much lesser scale than during the Soviet period. The cotton trade led to the construction of these railroads. In the long term, the development of a cotton monoculture would render Turkestan dependent on food imports from Western Siberia, and the Turkestan–Siberia Railway was already planned when the First World War broke out.

Post-revolutionary period

After the revolution the line was blocked by Cossacks under the command of Ataman Dutov. Cut off from food supplies, and unable to sustain itself due to forced cotton cultivation, Russian Turkestan experienced an intense famine. The temporary loss of the Trans-Aral also allowed the Tashkent Soviet a degree of autonomy from Moscow during the period immediately following the Bolshevik takeover, which resulted in atrocities like the Kokand Massacre, in which between 5,000 and 14,000 people were killed.

Route

The line passes through several notable cities in Kazakhstan, including Aktobe, Aral, Qyzylorda, Turkistan, and Shymkent. It connects at Arys with the Turkestan–Siberia rail line toward Almaty, eastern Kazakhstan, and south Siberia.

See also

References

  1. "The Trans-Asian Railway (Eurasian Landbridge)". The Geography of Transport Systems.
  2. Coulibaly, S Deichmann, U et al (2012) Eurasian Cities: New Realities along the Silk Road, World Bank Publications, P26
  3. "Desert & Steppe Conquests: Fortresses and Railways in the Sahara and Kazakhstan". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  4. Hamilton, Angus (1910). Afghanistan. Oriental series. Boston and Tokyo: J.B. Millet Company. Retrieved 2014-11-23.
  5. Morrison, Alexander (28 March 2012). "Railways in Central Asia". CESMI Central Eurasian Scholars & Media Initiative. Retrieved 29 August 2016.

Literature

  • Hopkirk, Peter, (1984) Setting the East ablaze : Lenin's dream of an empire in Asia, 252 pp., London: John Murray
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