Private company

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy

Logo: Kazakhstan railway, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

State-owned railway company in Kazakhstan

Qazaqstan Temır Joly is Kazakhstan's state-owned railway company founded in 1997, both owning and managing all infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services and has a near-monopoly on long-distance train travel in Kazakhstan. KTZ is the largest employer in Kazakhstan with 119,071 employees (2020). Approximately 1% of the Kazakh population are employed by the railroads and affiliated companies.2 It is headquartered in Astana.1 It is part of Samruk-Kazyna.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Mar 15, 2002Founded1
  • Industrytransport1
  • HeadquartersAstana1
  • Websitewww.railways.kz/en
  • Legal formjoint-stock company1
  • Listed onKazakhstan Stock Exchange (TMJL)1

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Railway Map of Kazakhstan (kk)
Photo: Maximilian Dörrbecker ( Chumwa ), CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons5

Qazaqstan Temır Joly (QTJ; Kazakh: Қазақстан Темір Жолы, IPA: [qɑzɑqˈstɑn tʲeˈmɘr ʒoˈɫɤ]) is Kazakhstan's state-owned railway company founded in 1997, both owning and managing all infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services and has a near-monopoly on long-distance train travel in Kazakhstan.2

Corporate structure

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy is part of a group headed by Samruk-Kazyna. 21 entities, 3 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Kazakhstan Temir Zholy reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, three state-operated railway administrations (Almaty, Tselinnaya, and West Kazakhstan) were formed. All three railways were previously divisions of Soviet Railways. By 1996, the three railways were in an extremely poor condition, financially and operationally. The vast majority of locomotives and rolling stock were aging, whilst maintenance and effiecientcy were declining.

In 1997 the railways were combined into KTZ as a republican state enterprise. In 2002, KTZ was reformed as a joint stock company, whilst staying under state ownership. In 2008, KTZ was transferred to the state owned sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna.

The TransKazakhstanTrunk Railways project

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 Bridge goes over the Trans-Siberian Railway, is lengthy, and requires bogie exchanges.

KTZ is engaging on a major railroad project to link China and Southeast Asia to Europe for a length of 3,900 kilometres (2,400 mi). Currently the plan is to run the railway through Turkmenistan to Iran; Iran is linked to Turkey and Europe's standard gauge system In May 2013, a new rail link opened between Uzen (Kazakhstan) and Serhetyaka (Turkmenistan), crossing the border at Bolashak. The railway is 146 km long and cost 65bn tenge. The railway is Russian gauge; there would be a break of gauge when the railway reaches the Iranian border.

Construction for the new line will start at the eastern border town of Druzhba to go to Aktau on the Caspian Sea. Construction is expected to start in 2006 and take four years. The total cost of the project is $5–7 billion. A link from Aktau to Iran is also required.

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

From Wikipedia’s article on Kazakhstan Temir Joly, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Owners

  • Kazakhstan

Also owns

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Mar 15, 2002Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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