US and Kyrgyzstan to build $3 billion railway

Kyrgyzstan and the U.S. plan to build a $3 billion railway spanning the entire Central Asian country, according to Kyrgyzstan’s National Investment Agency (NIA).

The Trans-Eurasian Route project will involve constructing a new rail line from the village of Makmal in southern Kyrgyzstan to the city of Karakol in the east.

The NIA, state-owned rail operator Kyrgyz Temir Zholu and U.S.-based All American Rail Group Global Infrastructure Partner LLC have signed an agreement for the project, which will be carried out as a public-private partnership (PPP).

NIA Director Talantbek Imanov said the initiative marks Kyrgyzstan’s first PPP project in the railway sector and represents a major step in improving the country’s transportation infrastructure.

Notably, the U.S. is one of the largest foreign investors in Central Asia. It ranks second after the Netherlands among foreign investors in Kazakhstan’s economy. In the second quarter of 2024, U.S. investment in Kazakhstan totaled $50.6 billion, with the majority ($41.9 billion) going toward mining and quarrying.