Proactive Railway Market Entry
On Aug. 2, the Korea National Railway announced that it has secured a contract for the “Preliminary Survey for the Construction and Operation of Tajikistan’s Urban Railway” as part of the “2023/24 KSP Policy Consultation Project” managed by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and implemented by the Export-Import Bank of Korea.
This project targets Central Asian nations possessing obsolete railway networks at the terminus of the former Soviet Union railway system. This is the first domestic urban railway construction-related policy consultation Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP) in these areas. The Korea National Railway plans to actively lead the sharing of Korea’s advanced railway system and operation expertise with Tajikistan, facilitating the entry of Korean railway technology into the Central Asian railway market.
Korea National Railway, Woosong University, and Daehan Consultants will jointly participate in this project. It will begin in August this year with an assessment of the local railway system, sharing of Korean urban railway construction and operational experience, and policy suggestions for the development of Tajikistan’s urban railway industry, set to conclude in June of next year.
The Korea National Railway’s relationship with Tajikistan started with an exchange during the 2021 global railway training course organized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. In March last year, Korea National Railway and Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transport signed a railway cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU), continuing active railway technical cooperation activities, leading to the successful procurement of this project.
Kim Han-young, CEO of Korea National Railway, said, “We expect that winning this project will play a leading role in advancing into the railway markets of not only Tajikistan but also Central Asia. We will continue to strive for proactive entry into overseas railway markets through mutual cooperation between Korea National Railway and private enterprises.”