American company Wabtec is planning to sell new locomotives to «Қазақстан темір жолы» (KTZ) with a total cost of $405 million (more than 195 billion tenge).
As reported by Orda.kz citing Business Wire, Wabtec noted that this is necessary to renew the aging locomotive fleet of KTZ.
«KTZ serves as a crucial link for freight transport between China and the West. These Evolution series locomotives will provide efficiency, reliability, and help save on maintenance to effectively reduce the growing burden on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route», the statement reads.
It is noted that the new locomotives can operate in extreme weather conditions and are adapted to mountainous terrain. Furthermore, they will be able to go longer without maintenance and repairs.
«Although the American company will manufacture the locomotives using its own technology, they will be assembled in Kazakhstan, at the Lokomotiv құрастыру зауыты JSC plant in Astana», the statement reads.
Delivery of the new locomotives is set to begin in 2025. Incidentally, KTZ's fleet already includes 451 locomotives of the Evolution series.
As it became known, the renewal of KTZ's locomotive fleet was reported back in February 2024. According to Wabtec reports, Lokomotiv құрастыру зауыты JSC is now fully controlled by the American company.
«Previously, Wabtec owned half the shares on a parity basis with the Russian company Transmashholding JSC (TMH). Transmashholding left Kazakhstan due to sanctions, which allowed the American company to fully buy out its share of the enterprise. In September 2022, KTZ signed a memorandum of understanding with Wabtec», the statement reads.
Recall that in June, the head of the Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) Alikhan Smailov stated that the company KTZ is unable to fulfil its obligations and is in the 'red' zone of credit risk. He noted that at the beginning of 2024, the company's debt amounted to 2.9 trillion tenge and continues to grow. Also, according to him, 45% or 1.3 trillion tenge of the total debt was used to refinance previously incurred debt obligations.
Later, the Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev commented on the information regarding KTZ's large debts. He stated that since 2020, the national company has been profitable. He acknowledged that there was a previous loss-making period and that the debt of 2.9 trillion tenge arose because the state did not allocate funds.
At the same time, the Managing Director for Economics and Finance of Samruk-Kazyna JSC, Aidar Ryskulov, stated that the company does not consider KTZ's aforementioned debt critical as claimed by the SAC.