Railway Infrastructure Through Asset Acquisition

State control over core railway infrastructure

The majority of railway tracks in Kazakhstan are predominantly state-owned and are operated by the national management holding company – Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC. However, this does not mean that all railway-related assets in Kazakhstan are owned by the State. Private ownership may exist in respect of railway tracks that do not form part of the main railway network, such as access tracks, industrial sidings, terminal tracks and other railway tracks serving a specific industrial, logistics or commercial facility.

Accordingly, the first legal question in any railway-related transaction is not simply who owns the asset, but what type of railway asset is being acquired and what regulatory regime applies to it.