Soviet infrastructure in Central Asia

The legacy of the Soviet Union lives on in the infrastructure of Central Asia. As it crumbles, or gets patched up, much of what was built in Central Asia is the backbone of the existing infrastructure for transportation, goods delivery and energy distribution. Much of the industrial infrastructure underwent precipitous decline in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, especially in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The roads, railroads and energy lines are thus oriented towards the Russian Federation and away from other regional neighbors, such as China, Afghanistan or Iran.

The Central Asian railroad network was designed primarily with the needs of former Soviet Union planners in mind. The entire Soviet railways system was built with Moscow at its core. Consequently, Central Asian railroads are mainly oriented north-south and (now-existing) borders were disregarded in planning. As a result, virtually all freight cargo from Central Asia to Russia crosses Kazakhstan, including trade with Europe. Uzbekistan also has significant transit traffic.

The total length of the rail network in the four CARs is about 19,600 kilometers (km) but size varies by country.

During the Soviet era, railways of the Central Asian countries were under the auspices of the Ministry of Railways, separated regionally into:

The Kazakh Railroad is one of the 7 divisions of the Southern Urals Railroad. It was formed in 1958 out of the Turkestan-Siberian and Karaganda railroads and sections of the former Tashkent, Orenburg, and Southern Urals railroads. The principal trunk line connected Kazakhstan to the Urals and the Volga region. The Kinel'-Orenburg-Iletsk trunk line connected the European regions of the USSR with Kazakhstan and the rest of Central Asia. The principal commodities transported were coal (22%), ferrous metals (12%), oil (10%), and building materials (9%). The Southern Urals Railroad was awarded the Order of the October Revolution in 1971. In 1971, this railroad had 13,250 km of track, representing 9% of the total rail network of the USSR. While some of the lines were built in 1915-17, 80% of the lines were built in the Soviet period. In 1971, the Kazakh Railroad was awarded the Order of Lenin.

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