page_title: Nur-Sultan
section_title: Railway and roads
hierarchical_section_title: Nur-Sultan / Transportation / Railway and roads
caption_attribution_description: English: Talgo 200 Tulpar train, Nur-Sultan rail terminal. 2009. Kazakhstan
context_page_description: Nur-Sultan, known between 1998 and 2019 as Astana, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. In March 2019, it was renamed Nur-Sultan in honour of the departing Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. It stands on the banks of the Ishim River in the northern part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, though administered as a city with special status separately from the rest of the region. A 2020 official estimate reported a population of 1,165,983 within the city limits, making it the second-largest city in the country, after Almaty, the previous capital, between 1991 and 1997.
  The original city of Akmola became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997, and since then has developed economically into one of the most modern cities in Central Asia. On 23 March 2019, following a unanimous vote in Kazakhstan's parliament, the city was renamed Nur-Sultan, after former Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
  Modern Nur-Sultan is a planned city, following the process of other planned capitals. After it became the capital of Kazakhstan, the city dramatically changed its shape. The city's master-plan was designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa.
context_section_description: Nur-Sultan is located in the center of the country, serving as a well-positioned transport node for rail and automotive networks.
  Astana railway station is the city's main railway station and serves approximately 7,000 people each day. A new railway station, Nurly Zhol was built during the Expo 2017 event with a customer capacity of 12,000. Tulpar Talgo is a daily express train to Almaty. Short-term plans include construction of a new railway station in the industrial district; in the vicinity of CHPP-3 a new terminal will be erected for freight cars.
  M-36 Chelyabinsk-Almaty and A-343 Astana-Petropavlovsk highways are routed through the city. The strategic geographical positioning of Astana allows the city to serve as a transport and reload centre for cargoes formed at adjacent stations in the area.
caption: Tulpar Talgo express train to Almaty
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