Trans-Aral Railway

Rail line in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan

4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)Old gauge1,524 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 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 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

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.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

References

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