Misplaced Pages

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
Status	Operational
Owner	Russian Railways (Rostov-on-Don–Iletsk I) Kazakhstan Temir Joly (Karatogay–Arys I) Uzbek Railways (Tashkent–Andizhan I)
Locale	European Russia Central Asia
Termini	Rostov-on-Don Andizhan I
Stations	42
Service
Type	Inter-city rail Freight rail
Operator(s)	Russian Railways Kazakhstan Temir Joly Uzbek Railways
History
Commenced	1888–1906
Built era	Russian Empire
Technical
Line length	9,200 km (5,700 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Character	International rail link
Track gauge	1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) Russian gauge
Old gauge	1,524 mm (5 ft) as built
Route map Legend 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 Russia Kazakhstan border Karatogay Aktobe Alga Aral Baikonur / Tyuratam Kyzylorda Turkistan Arys I to Almaty Kazakhstan Uzbekistan border 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 Trans-Aral Railway, also known as the Tashkent Railway, is a 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) Russian gauge railway built in 1906 to connect Kinel and Tashkent, both then within the Russian Empire. For much of the early 20th century, it was the only railway link between European Russia and Central Asia.

Construction history

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 Kinel–Orenburg section of the Samara–Zlatoust line was joined to the Tashkent railway.

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

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.

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

• Turkestan–Siberia Railway
• Trans-Caspian Railway

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

v t e Transport in Uzbekistan
Tashkent Metro	Operational  1  Chilonzor Line  2  Oʻzbekiston Line  3  Yunusobod Line  4  Circle Line Construction  5  Sirghali Line
Trams	Samarkand
Trolleybuses	Urgench Tashkent
Afrosiyob HSR	Tashkent–Samarkand HSR Samarkand–Bukhara HSR Samarkand–Qarshi HSR
Defunct	Trams in Tashkent all other trolleybus systems
Uzbek Railways	Tashkent-Ferghana Valley Trans-Caspian Trans-Aral Turkestan–Siberia Qarshi–Termez line (Afghanistan,Tajikistan)
Tourist rail/Named	Orient Silk Road Express (private train) Named trains Sharq Nasaf Registon
Bus	Tashkent Avtovokzal (Tashkent long distance terminal)
Major terminals	Rail Tashkent North (Main) Tashkent South (Suburban services) Bukhara Airports Tashkent International
Central Asia transit: (Azerbaijan) <= Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Kazakhstan => (Xinjiang,Russia) Southern Corridors: Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan Iran <= Afghanistan => (Pakistan)

• Railway lines in Russia
• Cross-border railway lines in Russia
• Railway lines in Kazakhstan
• Rail transport in Uzbekistan
• Railway lines opened in 1906
• Orenburg
• Transport in Tashkent
• 1906 establishments in the Russian Empire