Starlink internet to be tested on Kazakh trains

Tengrinews.kz – Internet service from Elon Musk’s company Starlink will be introduced on several Kazakh trains.

Chairman of JSC "Passenger Transportation" Anuar Akhmetzhanov announced at a Kazakhstan Railways briefing that Starlink has already been launched on the Burabay Express train, where it "performed well."

"Starlink has just entered the market, and we have already tested it. Now we plan to install it on two standard trains. By the end of this year, likely in October, we will begin connecting the Aktobe–Almaty and Kyzylorda–Semey routes in pilot mode. The signal quality is good, but since our country is vast, we need to test how it works in other regions. From a technological standpoint, it is easiest to equip Talgo trains with this internet, so we plan to connect 25 Talgo trainsets if it proves economically viable," Akhmetzhanov said.

For standard trains, the project will first undergo pilot testing, and if successful, it will be scaled up.

In August, Starlink officially launched in Kazakhstan. Earlier, it was also reported that Kazakhstan will not purchase new Talgo train cars, while the existing ones will remain in service until the end of their operational lifespan.