News / Kazakh Railways buys US-made locos to meet growing China-Europe demand

Kazakh Railways (KTZ) is continuing its push to usurp Russia as the operator of choice for China-Europe rail freight with a firm $405m locomotive investment and a renewed effort to resolve issues causing delays at the China-Kazakhstan border.

The order for new locomotives from US supplier Wabtec is to meet growing freight demand.

Gokhan Bayhan, Wabtec’s regional SVP for operations in the CIS, Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “Kazakhstan has a progressive and open-thinking local government that understands the importance of railways in driving the local economy.

“These locomotives will provide efficiency, reliability and operational savings to effectively support the growing demand on the trans-Caspian international transport route.”

Details of the order have not been made public, but earlier this year KTZ said it intended to bring in 574 new locomotives over the next five years, comprising 100 for shunting and 100 mainline locomotives for less-complicated routes, plus 374 more expensive “modern locomotives”. It noted that the shunting and mainline locomotives would be purchased “from the Chinese CRRC Corp”.

Mr Bayhan said KTZ had opted for Wabtec’s Evolution series locomotive, designed to operate in mountainous and extreme weather conditions, the latter having created havoc on KTZ services at the China-Kazakh border.

In its latest Asia Pacific Freight Report, Dimerco noted that alongside broad gauge tracks and weight limits, extreme weather had “further reduced the efficiency of reloading operations, and transhipment times have increased. Khorgos, Alashankou and Erlianhot now take 7-15 days, while Manzhouli takes about 5-10 days. Reloading in Brest/Mala requires around 5-7 days”.

Despite this, it appears demand has not faltered, rates remain stable, space stays tight and Dimerco advises that capacity is booked “at least two weeks in advance”.

Indeed, China-Europe shipments experienced a year-on-year surge of 1,400% in container volumes by rail over the first seven months of the year. And while KTZ has not been alone in capitalising on this – Azerbaijan and Georgia have sought to grow their traffic – it has been the largest beneficiary, as Kazakh operators saw a 63% year-on-year increase in rail freight volumes, following similar growth rate last year.