ARAL-CASPIAN RAILWAY PROJECT OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

The development of sea trade routes from Europe to India led to the decline of continental transport routes. Since sea routes were longer than transport routes across the continent, in the second half of the 19th century, European and Russian engineers proposed several projects that would connect Europe and India through the construction of railways running through the territory of the Russian Empire, from Afghanistan to India. The purpose of the article is to review the development history and economic conditions of the Aral-Caspian railway project. The article traces the routes of the planned railway construction in the pre-revolutionary period, which were to pass through the territories of Western Kazakhstan, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. The article analyses the economic possibilities of only one section of the project under consideration, which is the Aral-Caspian railway project. The reasons that prevented the implementation of the Aral-Caspian railway project are considered. The plans and implementation of this project in Soviet times are analysed, and the problems of its implementation in the modern period after the collapse of the USSR, in the new republics of Central Asia are considered. Afghanistan's interest in implementing transport projects through its territory is an opportunity to reduce social tensions within the country, taking into account the opportunities that have opened up.

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