Khorgas, officially known as KorgasThe official spelling according to , (Beijing, ''

SinoMaps Press SinoMaps Press (), previously known as China Cartographic Publishing House, is a publisher in Beijing, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with ...

'' 1997); ( zh, s=霍尔果斯, t=霍爾果斯, p=Huò'ěrguǒsī; kk, قورعاس, Qorǵas), also known as ''Chorgos'', ''Gorgos'', ''Horgos'' and ''Khorgos'', formerly Gongchen ( zh, s=拱宸城, labels=no), is a Chinese city straddling the border with

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 ...

. It is located in the

Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture ( kk, Іле Қазақ автономиялық облысы) (also as Yili) is an autonomous prefecture for Kazakh people in Northern Xinjiang, China, one of five autonomous prefectures in Xinjiang. Yining City ...

of the

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

. The city on the Kazakh side of the border is also known as ''Khorgas'' ( kk, Қорғас, , ; russian: Хоргос, ''Khorgos''); its train station there is Altynkol (russian: Алтынколь). As of 2019, the Khorgos area was a hub of the

New Eurasian Land Bridge The New Eurasian Land Bridge, also called the Second or New Eurasian Continental Bridge, is the southern counterpart to the Eurasian Land Bridge and runs through China and Central Asia with possible plans for expansion into South and West Asia ...

, 200 km from the

Alataw Pass The Dzungarian Gate (or Altai Gap or Altay Gap) is a geographically and historically significant mountain pass between China and Central Asia. It has been described as the "one and only gateway in the mountain-wall which stretches from Manchuria ...

, the historically important

Dzungarian Gate The Dzungarian Gate (or Altai Gap or Altay Gap) is a geographically and historically significant mountain pass between China and Central Asia. It has been described as the "one and only gateway in the mountain-wall which stretches from Manchur ...

, with a cross-border visa-free special economic zone for trade and shopping (ICBC), a dry port for transporting goods and two new cities, one on either side of the border.

Transportation

The

Jinghe–Yining–Khorgos railway The Jingyihuo railway (), short for Jinghe–Yining–Khorgas railway, is the first electrified railway in operation in Xinjiang, China. The line is 286 km in length and connects Jinghe, Yining and Khorgos.(Chinese"新疆首条电气化铁路 ...

was completed in late 2009 and as of 2012 provides train service from

Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...

and

Yining YiningThe official spelling according to (), also known as Ghulja ( ug, غۇلجا) or Qulja ( kk, قۇلجا) and formerly Ningyuan (), is a county-level city in Northwestern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China and the seat of the Ili Kazakh A ...

to Khorgas. Passenger trains from Ürümqi started on July 1, 2010; however, they initially only ran to Yining and not all the way to Khorgas. In December 2013, one of the daily Ürümqi-Yining passenger trains was extended to Khorgas. The travel time from Khorgos to Yining then was just over an hour. In December 2011, a railway from the Khorgas border crossing to Zhetygen terminal (near

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

) was completed; on December 2, 2012, the tracks from the Chinese and Kazakhstan sides of the borders were connected.写在中国霍尔果斯至哈萨克斯坦阿腾科里铁路通车运营之际
2012-12-23 For some months, the railway on the Kazakh side was still operating in a test mode. The railway border crossing (

port of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internati ...

) at Khorgas became operational in the late 2012;新疆霍尔果斯火车站获批成立年底有望通车
, 中国新闻网, 2012-11-23) the first regular trains from the two countries crossed the border on December 22, 2012. Thus, Khorgos, an international dry port, connects land-locked Kazakhstan to the sea port of

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its name derives from ...

in China. The railway border crossing is expected to handle up to 15 million tons of freight per year initially, the volume rising to 30 million tons per year in the long run, opening up the second Europe-China rail link via Kazakhstan.Revival of the Silk Road
/ref> Khorgas is a major

break of gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

interchange. 41-ton

gantry cranes A gantry crane is a crane built atop a gantry, which is a structure used to straddle an object or workspace. They can range from enormous "full" gantry cranes, capable of lifting some of the heaviest loads in the world, to small shop cranes, us ...

are used to move shipping containers between

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

Chinese trains and

Russian gauge Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Kazakh trains, connecting to

Altynkol railway station Altynkol Railway Station (russian: Станция Алтынколь) is located in Khorgas, Panfilov District, Almaty Region, Kazakhstan, the border of China and Kazakhstan, a spur line railway station of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. The Chinese st ...

on a spur line of

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy Kazakhstan Temir Joly (KTJ; kk, Қазақстан Темір Жолы, Qazaqstan Temır Joly (QTJ)), also National Company Kazakhstan Temir Joly, is the national railway company of Kazakhstan. Organization Founded by the government in 2002 as ...

. In June 2017, the

Ürümqi Railway Bureau Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...

of the

China Railway China State Railway Group Company, Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight transport throughout Ch ...

started daily passenger service from

Nur-Sultan 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), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

via Khorgas.

Economy

In 2017, robot manufacturing moved to Horgos as Boshihao Electronics moved production to the city from

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

Climate

Major disasters

61st Regiment Farm fire The 61st Regiment Farm fire (Chinese: 61团场火灾) was a fire occurred at the Chinese New Year at 20:15 local time, 18 February 1977 in a hall showing a communist war movie in Xinjiang, China. The regiment farm was a military-agricultural col ...

(1977) - most deadly fire in China since 1949

Gallery

References