Starting June 1, Kazakhstan will introduce a women-only carriage on train No. 614/613, which runs between Uralsk and Mangystau, according to the press office of Passenger Transportation JSC, a subsidiary of the national railway operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ).
With this addition, routes offering women-only passenger cars will rise to 12 across Kazakhstan.
Currently, women-only carriages are available on the following routes:
- No. 77/78 Almaty-Mangystau.
- No. 351/352 Almaty-Mangystau.
- No. 45/46 Pavlodar-Turkestan.
- No. 37/38 Mangystau-Semey.
- No. 47/48 Atyrau-Astana.
- No. 33/34 Aktobe-Almaty.
- No. 4/3 Astana-Almaty.
- No. 71/72 Astana-Shymkent.
- No. 354/353 Astana-Semey.
- No. 24/23 Aktobe-Almaty.
- No. 25/26 Almaty-Shymkent.
- No. 614/613 Uralsk-Mangystau.
Only female conductors work in these carriages and tickets are sold exclusively to women. Boys up to seven years old may travel with their mothers or female guardians.
When purchasing a ticket at a ticket office, passengers must inform the agent in advance if they wish to select a seat in a women-only carriage. When buying tickets online, customers should look for a label indicating that the seat is in a women’s carriage.
Women-only carriages gained popularity in 2024, with Kazakhstani women choosing them twice as often for domestic travel compared to previous years. Since 2021, more than 359,000 women have chosen this type of car, seeking a more comfortable and safer experience.
The introduction of women-only passenger cars followed a widely publicized incident in the fall of 2018 when two conductors raped a female passenger aboard a Talgo high-speed train traveling the Astana-Aktobe route. The case sparked national outrage and renewed calls for stronger protections for female travelers.
