Khorgos (from Russian: Хоргос), officially known as Korgas (from Kazakh: قورعاس), is a county-level city in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. It straddles the country's border with Kazakhstan; on the Kazakh side of the border is a city also named Horgos in Russian and Korgas in Kazakh.

Khorgos area is a hub of the New Eurasian Land Bridge, 200 km from the Alataw Pass, the historically important Dzungarian Gate, with a cross-border visa-free special economic zone for trade and shopping (ICBC), a dry port for transporting goods and two new cities, one on either side of the border.

History

In 1851, the Russian Empire signed an agreement with Qing China to have Khorgos and Tacheng opened as port of entries along the Qing-Russian border.

In 1977, the 61st Regiment Farm fire in Khorgos killed 694 and injured 161. It is one of the worst human-made disasters in China by death toll.

Transportation

The Jinghe–Yining–Khorgos railway was completed in late 2009 and as of 2012 provides train service from Ürümqi and Yining to Khorgos.

Passenger trains from Ürümqi started on July 1, 2010; however, they initially only ran to Yining and not all the way to Khorgos. In December 2013, one of the daily Ürümqi-Yining passenger trains was extended to Khorgos. The travel time from Khorgos to Yining then was just over an hour.

In December 2011, a 293-kilometre (182 mi) railway from the Khorgos border crossing to Zhetygen terminal (near Almaty) was completed; on December 2, 2012, the tracks from the Chinese and Kazakhstan sides of the borders were connected. For some months, the railway on the Kazakh side was still operating in a test mode. The railway border crossing (port of entry) at Khorgos became operational in the late 2012;) the first regular trains from the two countries crossed the border on December 22, 2012. Thus, Khorgos, an international dry port, connects land-locked Kazakhstan to the sea port of Lianyungang in China.

The railway border crossing is expected to handle up to 15 million tons of freight per year initially, the volume rising to 30 million tons per year in the long run, opening up the second Europe-China rail link via Kazakhstan.

Khorgos is a major break of gauge interchange. 41-ton gantry cranes are used to move shipping containers between standard gauge Chinese trains and Russian gauge Kazakh trains, connecting to Altynkol railway station on a spur line of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy.

In June 2017, the Ürümqi Railway Bureau of the China Railway started daily passenger service from Ürümqi to Astana via Khorgos.

Economy

As of at least 2024, Khorgos is the second-largest dry port in the world.

In 2017, Boshihao Electronics, a robot manufacturing company, moved production from Shenzhen to Khorgos.

Climate

Administrative divisions

Khorgos is divided into 4 subdistricts, 1 ethnic township, and 2 township-equivalent regions.

Name	Simplified Chinese	Hanyu Pinyin	Uyghur (UEY)	Uyghur Latin (ULY)	Kazakh (Arabic script)	Kazakh (Cyrillic script)	Administrative division code	Notes
Subdistricts
Qarasu Subdistrict	卡拉苏街道	Kǎlāsū Jiēdào	قاراسۇ كوچا باشقارمىسى	qarasu kocha bashqarmisi	قاراسۋ كوشە باسقارماسى		654004001
Ya-Ou East Road Subdistrict	亚欧东路街道	Yà'ōudōnglù Jiēdào			ەۆرو-ازيا شىعىس جولى كوشە باسقارماسى		654004002
Ya-Ou West Road Subdistrict	亚欧西路街道	Yà'ōuxīlù Jiēdào			ەۆرو-ازيا باتىس جولى كوشە باسقارماسى		654004003
Industrial Park Subdistrict	工业园区街道	Gōngyèyuánqū Jiēdào	سانائەت رايونى كوچا باشقارمىسى	sana'et rayoni kocha bashqarmisi			654004004
Ethnic township
Ichëgashen Township (Ichëgashen Sibe Ethnic Township)	伊车嘎善乡 (伊车嘎善锡伯族乡)	Yīchēgāshàn Xiāng (Yīchēgāshàn Xíbózú Xiāng)	ئىچېگاشەن شىبە يېزىسى	Ichëgashen shibe yëzisi	يچىگاشان سىبە اۋىلى		654004200	(Xibe) ᡞᠴᡝ ᡤᠠᡧᠠᠨ ᠰᡞᠪᡝ ᡤᡡᠰᠠ ice gašan sibe gūsa

Others:

• 61st Regiment Farm (六十一团)
• 62nd Regiment Farm (六十二团)

See also

• Transport in China
• Transport in Kazakhstan
• Railway stations in China
• Railway stations in Kazakhstan
• Nurkent

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