France's Alstom to unveil locomotive maintenance center in Kazakh town of Shu
Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov of Kazakhstan held meetings with the heads of major international companies – global leaders in railway engineering as part of the Kazakhstan roundtable on global investments, Kazinform News Agency has learnt from the press service of the Kazakh government.
During the meeting with Andrew DeLeone, President of the Alstom Africa, Middle East, and Central Asia (AMECA) Region, the plans on further localization of production and launch of new investment projects were discussed.
Being a key investor in the Kazakh railway industry, Alstom has funneled around 120 million euros in construction, technology transfer and training of personnel in the country in the past 10 years. The company provides jobs to over 1,000 Kazakhstanis as well as runs seven manufacturing bases, producing passenger and heavy electric locomotives.
The French company started construction of four electric locomotive maintenance centers, creating over 450 jobs, worth 50 million euros. The first such center is slated for commissioning in early 2025 in the town of Shu.
Alstom currently takes around 30% of Kazakhstan’s railway engineering output, observing the growing demand for its products amid increase in container transportation from East to West.
During the meeting, Andrew DeLeone, stated his support for the investment policy of Kazakhstan and highlighted that the conditions being created to run business in the country contribute to greater production capacity. The meeting also focused on prospects to expand cooperation aimed at promoting industrial and transport and logistics potential of Kazakhstan as well as the issues of partnership with Kazakh railway company KTZ.
At a meeting with Rafael Santana, President of US company Wabtec, implementation of green technologies in the railway sector was under discussion. The American company is among long-term investment partners of Kazakhstan, which works to localize locomotive production in the country.
The opening of the new engineering center, working to manufacture green locomotives run on alternative energy sources took place in Astana in June. In general, the company plans to invest around 200 million US dollars in developing new products with the use of alternative fuels in the next 10 years starting from 2027.
The Head of State highlighted Kazakhstan’s commitment to enhance its stand as a key Eurasian transit hub in his speech at the Foreign Investors’ Council meeting. Special attention was placed to the development of transit and logistics sector, renewal of infrastructure and localization of mechanical engineering in the country. We highly appreciate businesses’ initiatives, aimed at localizing production and are ready to provide support to such companies, Implementation of such projects will enable Kazakhstan to became a hub for production and modernization of locomotives and establish a global supply chain, said Kazakh Premier Bektenov.
