The Astana Metro is a planned light rail rapid transit system located in Astana, Kazakhstan, which is the capital of the country with a population of about 750,000. Construction should have finished roughly about the same time as the Almaty Metro, which was estimated for 2010. However, completion has been postponed until 2017. Project authority Astana LRT LLP had 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.
The light metro is part of Nazarbayev's Kazakhstan 2030 economic plan to transform Kazakhstan into an economic power. A great deal of construction has taken place in Astana since it became the capital in 1997.
Line 1
The 22·4 km North-South route would link the city’s main line station with Astana International Airport. The alignment of this line is partly segregated and partly on-street. The line will have 18 stops and one depot. Services would be operated by 19 vehicles with a maximum operational speed of 40 km/h. Ridership is expected to be 83 000 passengers/day and the line is planned to open in time for Expo 2017.