The development of railways in Kyrgyzstan is one of the most expensive state initiatives, requiring billion-dollar investments with a payback period spanning decades. Despite this, the authorities have launched the country's first-ever public-private partnership (PPP) project in the railway sector — the $3 billion "Trans-Eurasian Route," which envisions the construction of a railway line from Makmal village to Karakol city. The project will be operated by the state enterprise "Kyrgyz Temir Jolu" in cooperation with the American consortium All American Rail Group Global Infrastructure Partner LLC. The agreement on its implementation was signed by representatives of the government, "Kyrgyz Temir Jolu", the PPP Center, investors and U.S. Embassy officials.

All American Rail Group (AARG) is a relatively young company, established in November 2022, but it includes international members specializing in the design, construction and management of railway infrastructure. According to AARG itself, its specialists have worked on more than 3,000 projects, including large-scale railway mainlines and passenger terminals in various countries around the world.

However, the situation is not so straightforward. The first thing to consider is the investment volume — the company plans to invest $3 billion. But what does this railway actually represent? Essentially, it is a fairly long stretch of track (estimated to be around 540–580 kilometers, according to map data—Ed.), with questionable economic viability. It would only hold significant value if integrated with the future China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railway and the Karakol airport. Even then, the project would take many years to pay off.

However, concerns arise not only about the project itself but also about the company set to implement it. First, it's important to consider that the consortium started operating relatively recently, so where does it have the funds for such a large-scale project? Second, even if the company has managed to build up enough capital to handle this level of investment, why does the consortium not have its own office?

At the very bottom of the official page of All American Rail Group Global Infrastructure Partner LLC, the company's address can be found as expected.

The company is located in Richmond at 8922 FM 359 Road, and at first glance, there is nothing unusual about this — until you try to check the address on Google Maps.

The thing is, when you look up this address, you'll find a fairly large building, which seems logical at first. However, according to Google, it belongs to Texas Biotechnology Inc. Here’s how the company describes itself:

"Texas Biotechnology Inc. uses the power of nature to develop products and services that serve many areas, including agriculture, environment, human and animal health. Texas Biotechnology Inc. uses methods and practices of microbiology, biotechnology and relevant life sciences to develop already-proven solutions for critical problems in agriculture. Our research is concentrated on increasing soil health, the degradation of chemical substances blocking natural processes, increasing crop yield, and enhancing nutrient transformations".

The exact relationship between All American Rail Group Global Infrastructure Partner LLC and Texas Biotechnology Inc. remains unclear. However, if such connections do exist, the question arises: how can we be sure that the "Trans-Eurasian Route" will not be used for research purposes, given that the production of safe fertilizers requires thorough testing.

Additionally, the consortium's website does not provide any information about the leadership, and overall, there is nothing available except for the address and a list of the companies included in the consortium.

However, if we set aside speculation about a bio-laboratory, the companies included in the All American Rail Group Global Infrastructure Partner LLC consortium also raise questions. For example, All American Track, Inc. appears to be based near the famous character "SpongeBob" at the bottom of the ocean.

Moreover, if you check the company's Facebook page, you'll find that it has been around since 2013. However, the first post was made 6 years later.

Additionally, as commentators on the page point out, there is an obvious typo in every announcement on this page. Overall, the page is filled with various motivational quotes, photos of road workers and road construction, advertisements for a gym, and videos of questionable quality, especially considering that videos can easily be shot on an iPhone nowadays. In comparison, the page of a regional water utility in Kyrgyzstan looks much more presentable than the page of a company that is part of a consortium investing $3 billion in the project.

The second company is USCEM Group. The first thing that stands out is that when you search for it on Google, the search engine suggests correcting the error and looking for USM Group instead.

Secondly, all existing links refer to their name in news articles about the "Trans-Eurasian Route" project. At the same time, the company's website states that they have been in operation for 40 years, with a wide range of work — from engineering to agricultural projects.

Another company, whose office could not be located despite providing their address, led us to circle around it using Google Maps, but we found nothing indicating that McHale & Associates, Inc. has an office in that building. This pertains to the Richmond office, the main office; however, if we look at the office in Knoxville, we can even find their signage on the maps from 2023.

Interestingly, in the OCCRP database, you can only find two out of the five companies — McHale & Associates, Inc. and Blue Group International LLC. By the way, the latter has property in Florida, although the company is listed as being based in Texas (though it is actually not there. — Ed.).