The Astana Metro is an incomplete light rail

rapid transit system Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...

located in

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, which is the capital of the country with a population of over 1,000,000. Construction should have finished roughly about the same time as the

Almaty Metro Almaty Metro ( kk, Алматы метрополитені, ''Almaty Metropolitenı''; russian: Алматинский метрополитен) is a rapid transit/metro system in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The first line of the system was opened on 1 ...

, which was estimated for 2010. However, completion has been postponed several times, in 2011 completion was scheduled to coincide with the Expo in 2017 and as of October 2017 the first stage is planned to be commissioned in December 2019. Project authority Astana LRT LLP signed an agreement with a consortium of China Railway International Group and Beijing State-Owned Assets Management Co for construction of the first phase of the capital’s light rail project on May 7, 2015. Construction began in May 2017. The light metro is part of Nazarbayev's Kazakhstan 2030 economic plan to transform Kazakhstan into an economic power. Video renders of the proposed system show the lines built on viaducts running adjacent to roads, with enclosed stations offering heating and ventilation systems to protect passengers from the

extreme weather Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a loca ...

variations in the city. The Chinese company constructing the project went bankrupt early 2019. The city hall ordered an indefinite halt to it. Since then, the half-built remnants of the project have become a prominent symbol of corruption within the country.

Line 1

The North-South route would link

Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport ( kk, Халықаралық Нұрсұлтан Назарбаев әуежайы, Halyqaralyq Nūrsūltan Nazarbaev Äuejaiy, ; russian: Международный аэропорт Нурсултан ...

with

Astana Nurly Zhol railway station Astana-Nurly Zhol ( kz, Acтана-Нұрлы жол, ''Astana-Nurly Jol'') is a main train station and bus station in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. As part of the infrastructure build up to Expo 2017 the station is located near Mynzhyldyk A ...

via the modern "Left Bank" area of the city centre. The line will have 18 stops and one depot. Capacity is estimated to be 146,000 people per day.

Further phases

Original plans show further phases to link other areas of the city.

In popular culture

A scene in a music video by Kazakhstani

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

group features a man in a suit, meant to be a politician, handing a Lego set labeled "Nur-Sultan LRT" to a child, only for it to contain unfinished concrete pillars.

References

{{Rapid transit in Asia Transport in Astana Underground rapid transit in Kazakhstan Proposed public transport in Asia Tram and light rail transit systems under construction