KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ has commissioned the first Alstom Prima M4 KZ4AT electric passenger locomotive to be assembled locally rather than imported from France.
KTZ has ordered a total of 302 Prima T8 KZ8A freight locomotives and 119 Prima M4 KZ4AT passenger locomotives since 2010. The first 20 of the passenger locos were assembled in France in 2014-16, before production switched to the factory in Nur-Sultan which is operated by Alstom’s EKZ joint venture with Transmashholding.
EKZ employs around 850 people, supplying and maintaining electric locomotives for KTZ. It has also exported locos to Azerbaijan.
‘Today is a very important day, a date to be remembered’, said Guillaume Tritter, Alstom Managing Director for Western & Central Asia, on July 21. ‘We are very honoured to present and commission the very first made-in-Kazakhstan passenger electric locomotive. Thanks to our strong partnership with KTZ and our ambitious localisation plan, this tailor-made locomotive will run across the country at speeds up to 200 km/h. This new product is a result of an additional transfer of technology completed thanks to the support of our European manufacturing sites.’
Tritter said the design was one of the most versatile electric locomotives in the world, developed according to KTZ’s technical requirements, meeting the GOST standards for the 1 520 mm gauge region and with the ability operate in temperatures from -50°C to +50°C.
