Belarus, Russia in talks on restoring production at idle Stadler plant

MINSK. Sept 26 (Interfax) - Belarus is holding talks with Russia on restoring production at the Stadler Minsk plant, Belarusian Transport and Communications Minister Alexei Lyakhnovich said at a session of parliament.

"As for cooperation with Russia, we are now, together with the railway, exploring the issue of starting semi knocked down assembly of multiple unit trains at one of the country's plants or form some kind of joint venture in order to restore production at Stadler," Lyakhnovich was quoted as saying by state news agency BelTA.

The project is being discussed "with two [Russian] companies, major corporations," he said.

Switzerland's Stadler Rail Group built its plant in Minsk in 2014 at a cost of 50 million euros to manufacture rolling stock for wide-gauge railways in CIS countries. The plant has capacity to produce 120 railcars per year.

In July 2023, Stadler Minsk refused to deliver trains to the Minsk Metro due to western sanctions. The Swiss company has been moving orders from the Belarusian plant to its plants in other countries since 2022 because of the sanctions.

Stadler said in a report in the summer of 2023 that it was supporting the plant in Belarus "so that it can reopen it as soon as the sanctions have been lifted."