Aralsk Railway Station

The Railway Station in the southern Kazakhstan city of Aralsk is to the east of the city centre and was one the first buildings to be erected when the city was founded in 1905.

The station is on the Orenburg to Tashkent line and there are regular services to Aktobe and Almaty with less frequent services to Atyrau, Mangyslakski and Oral. The line also links into service to various destinations in Russia including Moscow, Chelyabinsk, and Ufa.

The station is a whitewashed single storey building with a barrel-vaulted ceiling over the central concourse. It was built in the early years of the 20th century and opened in 1905.

Inside the waiting room is a large mosaic which commemorates the city’s contribution of 14 wagonloads of fish in answer to an appeal by Lenin to help fed the famine struck people of Russia.

Source: Kazakhstan (Bradt Travel Guides) Editor: Paul Brummell (ISBN: 978-1-78477-092-1)