Kazakhstan's transportation sector delivered strong year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2026, driven by an acceleration in road freight that eclipsed gains across rail, pipeline, and maritime modes, official data from the Bureau of National Statistics shows.
Passenger traffic during the January-March period expanded 9.3 percent to 483.7 million people, while total freight volume climbed 8 percent to 239.8 million tons. Passenger turnover improved by 4.8 percent, though foreign turnover contracted by 3.3 percent, signaling uneven performance in cross-border mobility.
Road Freight Sets the Pace
The standout performer across all transport segments was road logistics, which posted a 20.4 percent surge in cargo volumes to 85.9 million tons. This growth rate substantially outpaced railway freight, which increased 8 percent to reach 90.7 million tons. Despite the volume gain, railway freight turnover slipped 3.6 percent to 80.7 billion ton-kilometers, suggesting shorter average haul distances or shifts in commodity mix.
Railway operations remained a financial cornerstone for the sector, generating 669.1 billion tenge in revenue. Road and urban electric transport collectively contributed 501.1 billion tenge, underlining the commercial weight of both modes despite their divergent volume trends.
Pipeline Decline, Air Sector Gains
Pipeline transportation registered the only notable volume decline, slipping 5.3 percent to 62.2 million tons with a corresponding reduction in turnover to 40.8 billion ton-kilometers. The segment nevertheless produced 461.7 billion tenge in revenue, reflecting the continued economic significance of oil and gas pipeline infrastructure despite lower throughput.
Aviation posted balanced growth, with passenger volumes rising 2 percent to 3.4 million travelers and passenger turnover climbing 9 percent. Air freight reached 6,600 tons, and the air sector overall generated 200.9 billion tenge in revenue.
Maritime and coastal transport saw a marginal 1.1 percent decline in freight volume to 1.01 million tons, though turnover rose 2.7 percent, indicating longer distances for remaining cargo. The segment contributed 7.7 billion tenge to sector revenues.
Private Operators Dominate, Almaty and Astana Lead Regions
The private sector accounted for the majority of transportation activity, moving 123.2 million tons of freight and 371.7 million passengers for 1.07 trillion tenge in revenue. State-owned enterprises handled 92 million tons and 106.4 million passengers, generating 722.7 billion tenge. Foreign operators accounted for 24.6 million tons and 5.5 million passengers.
Almaty emerged as the leading transportation hub, processing 117.9 million passengers and 13 million tons of cargo, with revenues of 409.9 billion tenge. Astana followed with 80.1 million passengers and 14.5 million tons of freight, producing 191.7 billion tenge in revenue. Among regions focused on freight alone, Atyrau and Akmola recorded the highest volumes at 29.6 million and 29.5 million tons respectively.
Overall sector revenue for the first quarter totaled 1.84 trillion tenge, comprising 1.46 trillion tenge from freight operations, 376.4 billion tenge from passenger transportation, and 62.8 billion tenge from vehicle rental with crew services.