Annual tourist train Bishkek-Balykchy-Bishkek launched
There was an announcement that caught my eye on the AkiPress news service earlier in the week:
Annual tourist train Bishkek-Balykchy-Bishkek launched
The train departs every day since July 18 until August 31. The train departs at 6.25 am local time from Bishkek and 4.47 pm from Balykchy.
The adult ticket costs 69 som, child ticket – 35 som.
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Normally, the service between Bishkek and Balikchy, (at the Western tip of Lake Issyk Kul), runs just three times a week. During the summer season, however, when lots of people want to travel up to the to lake in order to a few days off, sunning themselves on the beaches and taking the occasional dip in the waters, they lay on extra services to meet the demand and there is a train every day.
Although I have often thought it would be nice to “let the train take the strain”, I have to admit that I have never actually done this particular journey. Maybe this year … maybe next …
It only goes as far as Balykchy, which is the terminus at the end of the line, so any tourists then have to get onward transport to their chosen resort further up the shore. The trains are quite slow and the 180 kilometre journey can take several hours. For the most part, the journey along the single track line is not very dramatic, although when it passes through Boom Gorge it is interesting. At one point the track rises quite high above the road giving a good view of the valley). The advantage, of course, is the cost, which is considerably cheaper than any other alternative: bus, minibus, taxi, hired car or even driving yourselves.
A lot of tourists arrive from Russia by train, and last year the railway companies even laid on special trains from Tashkent.
Although the Kyrgyz Railway Company, (Kyrgyz Temir Jolu – “Kyrgyz Iron Road”, similar to the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français” – Chemin de Fer in the French for railway, or more literally, ‘path of iron’ ), is now a separate, independent, company, in the Soviet period it was part of an extensive rail network with both local and long distance services, the most famous being the Trans Siberian Railway.
Just as the Iron Horse played an important role in opening the Wild West of America, the railway played an important role in the opening-up of Central Asia. The construction of railways in Central Asia began in the Russian Empire, and was consolidated in the Soviet Union. It was primarily aimed at the distribution of coal and industrial output across the vast distances between the region and the markets of Western Russia. It also played an important part in the transport of passengers – and was used to great effect to move troops and supplies by Mikhail Frunze during the civil war. and also in the conduct of the Civil War between the Bolsheviks and the “White” Russians in the early years of the Soviet Union.
Kyrgyzstan, however, is not particularly well endowed with rail services as the terrain is not particularly suitable, and there was not enough traffic to justify the investment needed to develop such a network. Official statistics, according to the Ministry of Transport, state that there are 424.6 km of railway line in the republic – although other sources put the figure at 372 km.
The main routes are from the Kazakh border, through Bishkek and onto to Balykchi at the Western end of Lake Issyk Kul, and from Uzbekistan into Djalal Abad and Osh.
In 1995, it was decided to extend the railway from Balykchi to the Kara Kechi coalfield just North of Lake Son Kul – but the line was never finished, although there are plans that it should be – and extended as far as Djalal Abad.
The Chinese have extended their railway network with a line from Urumchi to Kashgar and there are now plans to create a link along the route of the “Silk Road”, which would create a Southern rival to the Siberian Railway. There are plans for a rail link between Kashgar and Djalal Abad (or Osh) over the Torugart (or Irkeshtam) pass – but the final details have yet to be decided ….
In 2003, plans were also announced for a rail link between Almaty and Cholpon Ata on Lake Issyk Kul – but if the history of the road linking these two is anything to go by – it will be a long time before it is implemented. Even the official estimates suggest that it will take some 10 years to complete the project.
Bishkek