Construction of a new railway line Darbaza — Maktaaral with a length of 152 km started in Turkestan region. Alikhan Smailov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, gave an official start to the works in the mode of teleconference.

In 2022, Russian Railways was forced to respond promptly to the changes. During the year, loading in the direction of unfriendly countries fell by 37%, in the direction of friendly countries — increased by 23%, including by 28% — to China. This increased the demand for the Eastern Polygon.