The efficient use of international railway transport corridors in Kazakhstan Vadim Kushkunov November 2017 Bachelor Thesis Logistics Engineering Programme Description Author(s) Type of publication Date Kushkunov, Vadim Bachelor’s thesis November 2017 Number of pages Language of publication: 57 English Permission for web publication: x Title of publication The efficient use of international railway transport corridors in Kazakhstan Possible subtitle Degree programme Logistics Engineering Supervisor(s) Franssila, Tommi Assigned by Description The Republic of Kazakhstan has huge benefits related to the presence of international transport corridors lying on its territory. Being the central state of Eurasian continent, it should be actively integrated into the global transport market and become one of the most important transit hub between East and West regions. However, due to the substandard quality of railway infrastructure and logistics, Kazakhstan is not able to efficiently use its transport potential. Therefore, the main objectives were to identify what kind of barriers prevent the efficient use of international transport corridors and what are the possible solutions. To answer these research questions, firslty the analysis of the effectiveness of transport corridors as a component of external transport market was made. Secondly, the current problems existing in transportation field were identified and divided into physical and non- physical barriers. Moreover, the two most crucial physical barriers such as the outdated fleet of rolling stock and the distinction of the railways gauge width were researched. The numerical data were collected from the financial statements and annual reports of transport companies. The results showed, that the use of the international transport corridors for the national economy is highly questionable. Moreover, the most important physical barriers hamper a lot the integration of Kazakhstan into the global transport market. The implementation of solutions were suggested in the theoretical view. In the author’s opinion, all these actions will help to approach the fulfillment of the main goal - integration of Kazakhstan into the system of international transport corridors in the effective way. Keywords (subjects) International transport corridors, railway transportation, East & West interrelations, coefficient of effectiveness, rolling stock, freight wagons Miscellanious Content 1 Introduction............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Motivation ....................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Research questions and objectives ................................................................. 2 1.4 Research methods ........................................................................................... 2 1.5 Importance of the Study .................................................................................. 4 2 Theoretical basis ..................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Transportation ................................................................................................. 4 2.1.1 Basic components of transportation system ........................................... 5 2.1.2 Role of transportation .............................................................................. 7 2.1.3 New trends in transportation ................................................................... 8 2.2 Railway transportation .................................................................................... 9 2.2.1 Material and technical base of the railway transport ............................ 10 2.2.2 Structural diagram of the rolling stock .................................................. 11 2.2.3 Wagons classification ............................................................................. 12 2.2.4 Draft of trains ......................................................................................... 13 2.3 Interrelation of East and West regions.......................................................... 13 2.3.1 The conception of New Silk Road ........................................................... 14 2.3.2 The Great Silk Road in Antiquity ............................................................ 15 2.3.3 Combining projects from different countries ........................................ 17 2.3.4 Kazakhstan in “New Silk Road” concept ................................................ 18 2.4 Railway system in Kazakhstan ....................................................................... 19 2.4.1 International transport corridors ........................................................... 20 2.4.2 Transit potential ..................................................................................... 26 2.5 International transit development ................................................................ 28 3 Research ............................................................................................................... 29 3.1 The effectiveness of international transport corridors as a component of the external transport market ........................................................................................ 29 3.2 The main problems of international transportation along international transport corridors ................................................................................................... 32 3.3 Analysis of transportation activities of JSC “Kazakhstan Temir Zholy " for the period of 2012-2016 ................................................................................................. 34 3.3.1 Analysis of the current state of locomotive traction operators ............ 35 3.3.2 Analysis of the current state of the freight car fleet .............................. 37 3.3.3 The market state for private operators of freight cars .......................... 39 4 Theoretical implementation of solutions ............................................................. 41 4.1 Updating and modernization of rolling stock ................................................ 41 4.2 Implementation of the technology of changing the gauge in motion .......... 43 5 Results .................................................................................................................. 45 6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 46 7 Further research suggestions ............................................................................... 47 8 References ............................................................................................................ 48 Figure 1. Transportation systems characterization (adapted from Sussman 2000, 8) .. 5 Figure 2. Structural classification scheme of rolling stock (adapted from Begagoin, Frolov, & Fetisova 2012) .............................................................................................. 11 Figure 3. The concept of New Silk Road (adapted from Kuhn 2015) ........................... 15 Figure 4. Routes of the Great Silk Road in the first century AD (adapted from Mark 2014) ............................................................................................................................. 17 Figure 5. Kazakhstan railways 2016 (adapted from Elyubayev 2015) ......................... 20 Figure 6. Map of TRACECA routes in Kazakhstan (adapted from TRACECA 2011) ...... 22 Figure 7. The volume of transit cargo import for 2012 (adapted from Zhaksygulova 2015) ............................................................................................................................. 23 Figure 8. The section of the North-South corridor through the territory of Kazakhstan (adapted from Elyubayev 2015) ................................................................................... 24 Figure 9. The amount of container transportation in 2015-2016 (adapted from Ministry of investments and development 2017) ........................................................ 25 Figure 10. The overall view on five international corridors on the territory of Kazakhstan (adapted from Ministry of investments and development 2017) ............ 26 Figure 11. JSC "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" transportation activities for 2012 – 2016 (adapted from the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy annual reports) ....................................... 35 Figure 12. Dynamics of changes in the wagons fleet owned by private owners for 2010 – 2016 (adapted from the Ministry of national economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2017) ......................................................................................................... 40 Figure 13. The system of changing the track's composition in motion without human intervention (adapted from Popov 2011) .................................................................... 44 Table 1. The value of national economic costs of ITC for the period 2010 - 2016 ...... 30 Table 2. The indicator of the national economic efficiency for the period 2010 - 2016 ...................................................................................................................................... 31 Table 3. Technical passport of locomotive traction operators for 2010 – 2016 (adapted from the Ministry of national economy of the Republic