First tunnel breaks through on China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway

Fresh off President Xi Jinping's state visit to Kyrgyzstan, project officials have announced the successful drilling of a key tunnel along the long-stalled China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway, making it the first construction milestone for a flagship Belt and Road project.

According to the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Company, a joint venture backed by all three governments, the breakthrough involved the 209.6-metre Kosh Dobo North No. 2 tunnel, which is the first tunnel drilled through on the Kyrgyz section of the line since full-scale construction began in June 2025.

The tunnel has a maximum burial depth of 41 metres and was completed on schedule as a single-track structure, the company said. Overall progress on the Kyrgyz section of the route has now reached 17 per cent.

The tunnel breakthrough is one piece of a much larger construction push. Since work began last year, crews have started construction on 27 tunnels, 43 bridges and 88 roadbed sections, with work also underway on 20 planned railway stations along the route, including phased progress on the Naryn No. 1 Tunnel, another key structure on the line.

A challenge for the Belt and Road project

The CKU railway has been one of the more stubborn items on the Belt and Road wish list.

The idea for a joint China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan rail link was first proposed back in 1997, but implementation stalled for decades over difficult mountain terrain, disputes over track gauge and shifting geopolitics.

Once finished, the line will span more than 500 kilometres, including roughly 305 kilometres running through Kyrgyzstan, connecting Kashgar in China's Xinjiang region through the Kyrgyz mountains before terminating in Andijan, Uzbekistan.

The gauge issue that held the project up for years has been resolved with a compromise: the Chinese standard gauge will run along the roughly 167.5-kilometre stretch from the Chinese border to Makmal in Kyrgyzstan, while the remaining nearly 140 kilometres toward Uzbekistan will use Soviet-standard broad gauge, with a transshipment hub planned at Makmal.

The strategic upside for Beijing is significant

Once operational, the CKU line is expected to become the shortest overland route between China and the Middle East and Europe.

It could cut transit times by as much as eight days compared with the existing China-Europe Railway Express, all three main routes of which currently run through Russia or Kazakhstan.

That makes the project as much a geopolitical hedge as a commercial one, giving China a westbound trade corridor that doesn't depend on Russian territory or rail infrastructure at a time when Beijing has been diversifying its options across Central Asia.

The project is also aimed to be a source of local economic benefit in Kyrgyzstan, not just a transit corridor for Chinese goods.

According to the railway company, three vocational training centers have been set up in the Jalal-Abad region, Manas and Suzak, training more than 1,800 local workers in civil engineering, machinery and steel structures, with qualified trainees offered jobs on the project.

The company also said it has sourced more than about $114 million worth of materials and equipment locally, with all fuel purchased in Kyrgyzstan and over 60 per cent of key construction materials, including cement, sourced domestically, alongside rentals of local machinery and investment in nearby village infrastructure.

New deals, new horizons

The tunnel milestone comes just days after President Xi wrapped up his state visit to Bishkek, where he and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov signed a new friendship treaty and elevated the two countries' partnership - talks in which the railway featured prominently as the visit's most tangible deliverable.

With construction still in its early stages and 17 per cent completion on the Kyrgyz section, the line remains years from being operational, but the first successful tunnel breakthrough gives Beijing a concrete sign of progress on a project it has spent nearly three decades trying to get off the ground.

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China Uzbekistan Belt and Road Initiative