At the end of January 2026, a meeting took place in Moscow between Oleg Belozerov, Director General and Chairman of the Management Board of the RZD OJSC, and Talgat Aldybergenov, Chairman of the Management Board of the “KTZ NC” JSC, at which the results of the past year were summarised and plans for 2026 were discussed.

In 2025, the volume of rail freight traffic between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation amounted to 92.1 million tonnes, an increase of 3.5 % compared with 2024; of this total, 25.6 million tonnes (+8.8 %) were transit cargoes.

Transit transportation of Kazakhstan’s grain through Russian territory has tripled, reaching 2.2 million tonnes. The volume of cargo transhipped from Kazakhstan at Russian ports has increased significantly, including 11.7 million tonnes of coal (+38 %) and 526,400 tonnes (+34 %) of other goods.

Potential freight volumes between the countries in 2026 may exceed the capacity of international border crossing points. In this regard, the parties emphasised the importance of the synchronised development of railway infrastructure and coordinated efforts between government regulatory bodies and railway operators. The transition to the use of electronic consignment notes in international traffic was noted as a positive development.

Measures were also discussed to develop the eastern branch of the International North-South Transport Corridor, along which container traffic increased by 1.5 times in 2025.