Kazakhstan transported nearly 979.4 million passengers in the first half of 2026, up 5.5% year-on-year, Qazinform News Agency cites the Bureau of National Statistics. Passenger turnover stood at 45.3 billion passenger-kilometers, up 5.1% year-on-year. Passenger traffic on road and urban electric transport rose 5.7% year-on-year, while passenger turnover increased 5.1%.
Air passenger traffic reached 7.4 million in the first half of the year, up 2.6% year-on-year, while passenger turnover stood at 15.3 billion passenger-kilometers, an increase of 7.9%. Rail transport, meanwhile, carried 9.2 million passengers, down 3.3% from the same period last year, although passenger turnover edged up 0.1%.
The fastest growth in passenger turnover was recorded in the Kostanay region (62.7%), followed by Almaty (22.3%), the Akmola region (20.6%), Shymkent (19.2%), and the Almaty region (15.8%). Freight transport also recorded growth during the first half of the year.
Cargo volumes reached 462.7 million tons, up 2% year-on-year, while freight turnover increased by the same margin to 255.8 billion ton-kilometers. Rail freight volumes declined 1.6% to 162.5 million tons, although freight turnover increased 4% to 146.7 billion ton-kilometers.
Road and urban electric transport recorded growth, with freight volumes rising 9% and freight turnover increasing 6.4%. Pipeline transport saw cargo volumes decline 2% year-on-year to 128.2 million tons, while freight turnover slipped 2.4% to 84.6 billion ton-kilometers.
Water transport also posted strong results, with inland waterway freight volumes doubling to 110,800 tons. Sea and coastal shipping carried 2.1 million tons of cargo, up 7.3% year-on-year, while freight turnover rose 19.4% to 1.05 billion ton-kilometers. The Zhetysu region recorded the strongest growth in freight turnover at 16.3%, followed by the Abai region at 12.2% and the Kyzylorda region at 8.7%.
Freight turnover also increased by 8.5% in Astana and 0.4% in Almaty. Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that two railway stations in East Kazakhstan region had been reopened after modernization.