Kazakhstan: National operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) has finished fitting Trip Optimizer to its entire fleet of 425 Wabtec-built TE33A and TE33AS diesel locomotives. The system has now moved from pilot trials into regular operation and will run across 65 sections of the network.
KTZ has been rolling out Trip Optimizer since 2023. The system automatically controls locomotive throttle and dynamic brakes, calculating an optimal driving profile based on track gradient, train weight, speed restrictions and other factors. KTZ says it cuts fuel consumption by 5% to 30% and reduces wear on brakes and other locomotive and wagon components. Locomotives have now logged more than 4 million km running in automatic mode.
KTZ is also scaling up its stationary KinetiX wagon-diagnostics systems. This year it plans to install units at Pavlodar, Tobol, Arys, Dostyk, Altynkol, Saksaulskaya and Shalkar stations, building towards a unified digital diagnostics network for its rolling stock fleet.
Elements of the KinetiX trackside wagon diagnostics system near Astana station. Source: KTZ
The first pilot unit, comprising eight modules, went in near Astana station late last year. It has since diagnosed more than 4.6 million axles, flagging 17,600 defects, 448 of them critical. KTZ says the technology has cut wagon inspection times by 30% and manual measurement work by 70%.
KinetiX scans wagons on the move at speeds of up to 120 km/h, combining machine vision with vibration and infrared sensors. It can detect wheel flats, bogie faults, brake equipment problems, axle-box bearing defects and coupler faults, alongside the general condition of wagons and their cargo. AI processes the data and sends fault alerts to specialists in real time, which KTZ expects will lower maintenance costs and cut train delays.
KTZ received the first KinetiX unit free of charge for pilot operation in 2024. Further units are arriving under large-scale, long-term agreements the two companies signed last year.
