These are driverless surface vehicles over more than 22 km, serving 18 stations in the capital of Kazakhstan.
O LRT (Light Rail Transit), or light rail, is an urban rail transport system that combines features of modern trams and heavy rail. It normally circulates on dedicated channels.
For example, in Portugal we see the Porto Metro, which has been using this system in an underground and surface network for almost 15 years.
The LRT reached Astana. The vehicles have been circulating in the capital of Kazakhstan for 10 years, supposedly, but they will only start next weekend.
They are surface carriages without driver that cover more than 22 kilometers and who serve 18 stations in the city. Several key points are connected, including: airport, Nurly Zhol train station and the center of Astana.
The vehicles were manufactured in China to withstand Astana’s harsh climate – and can transport up to 600 passengers each, indicates the .
The project is not exactly new. And it even became a center of national attention for years.
The first proposal was presented around 20 years ago. It would be in 2010, then for Expo 2017… It was suspended for several years, construction resumed in 2023.
It cost around 1.8 billion dollars, more than 1.5 million euros.
Local authorities expect the system to be used daily for up to 45 thousand passengers.
