The History of Transport and Communication Development in Kyrgyzstan

Transport and Communication of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan

It seems that just recently only bumpy roads and narrow paths connected Kyrgyz villages, and the most urgent news spread among the ails at the speed of a galloping horse. Now the republic has all types of modern transport — rail, road, and air.

Road transport is the most developed, being the most convenient in our mountainous region. It accounts for 97% of all cargo transported within the republic.

The largest highway in Kyrgyzstan is the Bishkek — Osh road, figuratively called the "Great Kyrgyz Tract".

The wide highway runs where once only a sheep path stretched, pressed against sheer cliffs. The construction of the road was not easy. Its length is 650 km, of which about 300 km are through mountains, two ridges at a height of 3 km, and two lofty passes... To build the road, it was necessary to move 11 million cubic meters of soil and construct more than 100 bridges over rivers and streams.

But the most grandiose structure of the route is the Susamyr Tunnel, which pierced the Kyrgyz Ridge. Its length is 2.5 km.

The road was put into operation in 1965, reducing the distance from the capital of the republic to the regional center by 800 km. The construction involved Moscow metro builders — the famous brigade of V. E. Shipilov, who built the "Komsomolskaya" station.

Since the Boom Gorge was the shortest route between Issyk-Kul and the Chui Valley, it was used by the local population long before the revolution. But what kind of road was it? P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, who traveled to Issyk-Kul in 1856, masterfully described the then Boom: "Our movement forward was extremely hindered by the fact that our path could not continuously follow the very bank of the river, as in places the bank cliffs fell into it completely vertically, and we had to climb up the side walls of this stone corridor... In some places, instead of these detours, we walked, where possible, fording at the foot of the cliff, against the turbulent current of the river through the rocks filling its bed, with the danger every minute of being swept away by the raging waves."

In 1878, a wheeled road was first laid through the Boom Gorge, narrow, uneven, winding along the river Chu. In the same year, a wooden bridge was built — the ancestor of the Red Bridge, called the Intendant Bridge.
Currently, the highway through the Boom Gorge is one of the best mountain roads in our country.

In the 1940s, a railway was built through the Boom, connecting Tokmak and Balakchy. The construction took place during the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War.

The first train passed here in May 1948.

The first car appeared on the streets of the former Pishpek in 1912.

In the 1930s, bicycles were the favorite means of transport for the residents of Frunze. By the beginning of 1934, there were more than 1,000 cyclists in the city. Considering that Frunze had just over 40,000 residents at that time, it turns out that almost every tenth urban family had this means of transport.

The first two passenger buses appeared in Frunze in 1934. The length of the first city route was only a few kilometers.

In 1983, the volume of passenger transport increased by 349 times compared to 1936, amounting to 523 million people, and passenger turnover increased by 364 times. In 1984, road transport carried 313.8 million tons of cargo.

By the end of 1984, the length of roads in the republic was 23.5 thousand km compared to 5.2 thousand km at the beginning of 1927.

Until 1932, no city in Kyrgyzstan had paved streets and sidewalks. The first 360 meters of pedestrian paths were put into operation in Frunze on Dzerzhinsky Street and Lenin Avenue, and by 1935 their length increased to 7.4 km, and paved streets to 12.8 km.

The railway line built in 1926 from Lugovaya to Pishpek connected the city of Bishkek with all economic regions of the country. The operational length of railways in the republic by the end of 1924 was 104 km. By the end of 1984, the length of steel highways in Kyrgyzstan reached 372 km. In 1984 alone, 8,119 thousand tons of cargo were transported by rail.


The first Kyrgyz domestic airline was opened on November 7, 1933, on the route Frunze—Rybachye—Przhevalsk, with flights operated by two U-2 aircraft daily. The pilot of the aircraft was Nikolai Yeske. Soon, air routes in the mountainous region began to be laid one after another: Rybachye—Naryn—Uzgen—Osh (1934), Frunze—Osh (1935), and others.

In the summer of 1934, there were three U-2 aircraft at the Frunze airfield. Kyrgyzstan was taking its first steps on its winged path...

Today, aviation has firmly entered the life of the republic. The length of local air routes has exceeded 5,000 km.

Air routes connect the capital of Kyrgyzstan with Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as many cities in the country. The "Manas" airport in Bishkek is capable of accommodating the takeoff and landing of the most modern aircraft.

Issyk-Kul... the Kyrgyz Sea. It not only caresses vacationers on its shores but also works. The lake carries vessels of various brands on its buoyant waves. When did vessels first appear on Issyk-Kul?

An attempt to organize navigation was made as early as the late 19th century. But it was unsuccessful. By 1916, there were already 12 sailing vessels on the lake, capable of moving only with a tailwind. Their route from Lipenka or Jargylchak to Balakchy lasted 1.5 to 2 months. They carried timber, wheat, and wool.

In 1926, the Issyk-Kul Shipping Company was established. Since then, it has been one of the most important nodes in the transport network of the republic.

The total length of operated waterways in 1984 was 576 km. In 1984 alone, the shipping company transported 557 thousand tons of cargo and 89.6 thousand passengers.

In 1921, there were 11 postal communication offices in the republic, three Morse apparatus, and twenty telephone sets. By the beginning of 1984, there were over a thousand postal, telegraph, and telephone enterprises in the republic. The number of telephone sets in the Ministry of Communications' overall telephone network increased 44 times compared to 1940, exceeding 208 thousand.

In 1984, over 15 million long-distance telephone calls were made through communication enterprises, 59 million letters were sent, 413 million newspapers and magazines, 1,881 thousand parcels, and 4 million telegrams.

The inventors of radio and telegraph are known to everyone from school. But do you know about those who were at the origins of television?

The first initiator of the development of an electronic television system was Boris Pavlovich Grabovsky, who, along with his colleagues N. G. Piskunov, V. I. Popov, and I. F. Belyansky, built and tested the world's first electronic television system. They called it "telephot." The term was coined by B. P. Grabovsky. His contributions to the creation of the electronic television system are recognized worldwide.

On March 7, 1964, a TASS report about Grabovsky and his colleagues' experiments with the telephot in 1928 alarmed scientists around the world. The recognition of the Soviet Union's priority in the invention of electronic television was made public by the president of the International Union of Press on Radio Engineering and Electronics, E. Aisberg.

Interestingly, the idea of creating a foresight system matured in the mind of soldier-chonovets Boris Grabovsky right here, in the former Pishpek. Here he invented the cathode switch, which was the key to the practical realization of the idea. He lived in Kyrgyzstan for over thirty years.

This man's creative account includes more than 50 application certificates for inventions, 12 patents, and author certificates issued by the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. But the telephot is the main and most significant result of his multifaceted activity.

Books, stories, and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles have been written about our famous countryman Boris Pavlovich Grabovsky. Museums have been established in some cities of our country, where exhibits tell about the life and work of B. P. Grabovsky.

Today, radio broadcasting covers almost the entire population of the republic. The republic's television began its work in December 1958 with the commissioning of the Frunze radio and television transmitting center. The first broadcasts were trial, and after 5 years, the daily broadcasting of Kyrgyz television amounted to 6 hours. By 1979, television became available to almost all populated areas. In 1984 alone, 71 thousand televisions were sold to the population of the republic.

Reception and transmission of television programs are carried out using various radio relay and satellite communication facilities.

Mobile and Cellular Communication in Kyrgyzstan