With President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attending the ceremony, the 21.3km ,18-station, EUR1.5bn, 1520mm-gauge, elevated, automated light metro from Nurly Zhol to the airport was opened for passengers from 16 May, operated by 19 Chinese-built four-section 60m trains from CRRC Tangshan. Originally planned as LRT, construction started in 2017 but was suspended from 2020-2022 due to failure of the original consortium. The depot is located beyond the airport terminus. Service operates 06.00-23.00 every 5-10 minutes with a 40-minute end-to-end journey time, and the fare is KZT 200.
Chinese-built train on the Astana light metro. (Sheldkhan)
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