Alstom to produce new electric locomotive in Kazakhstan, invest 50 mln euros in service centers

ASTANA. Nov 5 (Interfax) - National railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC (KTZ) and French engineering group Alstom Transport SA have signed an agreement on the production of a new type of electric freight locomotive in Kazakhstan, the KTZ press service said.

The agreement was signed in Paris during Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's state visit to France.

"The document provides for the production at the Astana electric locomotive manufacturing plant and the delivery of the KZ6A, a new type of electric freight locomotive with asynchronous traction motors. This model will replace the obsolete VL-80 locomotive from 1980. The new type of electric locomotive is 40% cheaper and more economical, with a 20% lower energy consumption," the press release says.

The parties have started to set up a center in Astana to develop and implement the latest transport management technologies and enhance railway traffic safety.

Alstom will also invest 50 million euros in the construction of four service centers for electric locomotives, creating more than 700 permanent jobs.

KTZ, Electric Locomotive Assembly Plant LLP and Alstom have agreed to supply 117 electric freight locomotives and establish service centers by 2028, KTZ said earlier. The guarantor of the transaction will be BPI France, the export credit agency of the French Ministry of Finance. The French bank Societe Generale will provide preferential financing at low interest rates for the purchase of the locomotives.

Andrew DeLeone, the French engineering company's president for Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, said in June 2023 that Alstom intended to invest between 50 million and 100 million euros in setting up its own service centers in Kazakhstan.

Alstom has over 1,000 staff and seven sites, including two plants, in Kazakhstan. The first is the Electric Locomotive Assembly Plant, which specializes in the assembly and maintenance of electric locomotives in Astana; the second is the JV KazElectroPrivod, which manufactures point machines in Almaty. Alstom is the only manufacturer of electric locomotives and point machines in Central Asia and the Caucasus.