Alona Lebedieva: How Kazakhstan is building its role in the new logistics of Eurasia

KYIV, UKRAINE, April 28, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Kazakhstan has announced ambitious plans to build 5,000 km of new railways over the next four years and significantly increase transit transportation. Over the past 15 years, the country has already invested around $35 billion in transport infrastructure and built more than 2,500 km of main railway lines. Its new goal is to increase the volume of rail transit to 100 million tonnes per year by 2035.

For a country that has no direct access to the sea, this strategy is not merely an infrastructure modernization effort. It is an attempt to turn its geographic position into a source of economic influence.

“This news should not be perceived as just another infrastructure update, but as a systematic bid by Kazakhstan to become one of Eurasia’s key land transport hubs. This is not only about expanding the network, but about changing the country’s place in the global economic architecture,” says Alona Lebedieva, owner of the Ukrainian diversified industrial and investment group Aurum Group.

Kazakhstan has no access to global maritime trade routes, and until recently this was viewed as a limitation. Today, the country is trying to turn this geographic feature into an advantage by focusing on transit, logistics, and control over the flow of goods between China, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Europe.

In this context, railways are becoming not only transport infrastructure, but also an instrument of economic policy. The country that is able to ensure fast, predictable, and large-scale cargo movement gains a much stronger position in negotiations with partners and neighboring states.

“In the new logistics, it is not enough simply to be located along a route. What matters is having the infrastructure, capacity, and ability to process cargo quickly. That is why 5,000 km of new railways is not only about transport, but about economic agency and the ability to influence the rules of the game in the region,” emphasizes Alona Lebedieva.

After 2022, Eurasian logistics changed significantly. The disruption of traditional routes through Russia, sanctions pressure, and the growing role of the Trans-Caspian Corridor have opened a window of opportunity for Kazakhstan, which the country is trying to use to the fullest.

In fact, this is about redrawing the logistics map of the region. Routes that were previously perceived as alternative are gradually gaining strategic importance. For Kazakhstan, this is a chance not only to service transit flows, but also to build new economic ties around them.

“In parallel with railway construction, Kazakhstan is developing the ports of Aktau and Kuryk on the Caspian Sea, expanding container capacity, reducing delivery times, and integrating into China–Europe routes. This creates not merely a transit function, but an entire logistics and industrial ecosystem around transport corridors,” underlines Alona Lebedieva.

Kazakhstan is demonstrating a highly pragmatic approach: in the modern economy, geography alone no longer provides an advantage. It begins to work only when supported by infrastructure, investment, and a clear state strategy. In this sense, the country’s new transport program is an attempt to consolidate its role as a key hub of the new Eurasian logistics.

And this is the main conclusion: in the new Eurasia, the countries that will win are not those that are simply located between major markets, but those that are able to turn this location into service, speed, reliability, and political weight. Kazakhstan, it seems, is betting precisely on this.

Alona Lebedieva
Aurum Group
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