Kazakhstan Railways: From the Middle of Nowhere to a Center of Trade?

Willy  Shih; Esel  Çekin

Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

Kazakhstan Railways: From the Middle of Nowhere to a Center of Trade?

by Willy Shih and Esel Çekin

Abstract

This case describes the evolution of Kazakhstan's rail connectivity strategy post-collapse of the Soviet Union and its now central role in China's Belt and Road Initiative. This meant shifting from a north-south orientation towards an east-west one, as well as the development of new border-crossing facilities, special economic zones, and a new middle route that crossed the Caspian Sea. Unlike many other BRI initiatives that involved loans from China, Kazakhstan funded the modernization and upgrade by itself. Now the question was how soon demand would grow to fill the waiting capacity, as other bottlenecks on the Trans-Eurasian land route connecting China with Europe were beyond the country's control.

Keywords: geopolitics; China’s Infrastructure Exports: The ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative; Logistics; Trade; Economic Growth; Geopolitical Units; Geography; Rail Transportation; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; Central Asia; Kazakhstan; China;

Language: English

Format: Print

28 pages

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Citation:

Shih, Willy, and Esel Çekin. "Kazakhstan Railways: From the Middle of Nowhere to a Center of Trade?" Harvard Business School Case 620-020, August 2019.

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Kazakhstan Railways: From the Middle of Nowhere to a Center of Trade?

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