07-21-2017, 03:09 PM
Interestingly, I saw some LRT construction going on in Astana (Kazakhstan) today. The stats are close to ours: 22.4km, 18 stops, 19 LRVs, max speed 40km/h. Astana's population is higher at 835,000 with enormous growth in the past 15 years due in part to now being the national capital. It's basically built by China. The government doesn't have any problem spending money (although they vacillated between LRT and BRT as well).
Surprisingly, it's being estimated at US$1.8B. And there's not that many natural obstacles in Astana either, and the infrastructure is all new. Maybe the only obstacle is the river. But 2.5x the cost?
They were also hoping to finish it in time for Expo 2017, but they missed that by quite a bit.
Surprisingly, it's being estimated at US$1.8B. And there's not that many natural obstacles in Astana either, and the infrastructure is all new. Maybe the only obstacle is the river. But 2.5x the cost?
They were also hoping to finish it in time for Expo 2017, but they missed that by quite a bit.