Kazakhstan: These plans of the Semipalatinsk Machine-Building Plant, SMZ, have been announced by Kanat Sharlapaev, Minister of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan. “The Semipalatinsk Machine-Building Plant is setting up production of 600 gondola cars per year”, the Minister was cited by the Kapitalkz news outlet as saying.
This February, the plant said that the first gondola cars (pictured), which are “widely used”, were ready. However, SMZ’s valid approvals for freight cars failed to be found in registers, and the minutes of the working bodies of the Council for Rail Transport of Community of Independent States contain no information on including gondola cars in the Catalogue of freight cars.
Founded in 1969, SMZ produced only components for rolling stock, with the main production area being crawler-type vehicles, including for military purposes. In recent years, the company has accumulated significant debts, and in 2022, a five-year court-administered rehabilitation scheme was introduced to settle creditors’ claims.
SMZ can become the fifth player in the railcar-building sector in Kazakhstan. The three are the Kazakhstan Car-Building Company, ZIKSTO, and Cool Infinity, which have already set up freight car serial production in the country. The fourth is TEXOL, which launched the manufacture of gondola cars and flatcars at the Atyrau Wagon Factory this year. LogiStan says the Kazakh government hopes that by the end of 2024, the production of freight cars will quadruple, from 536 to 2,000 units.
According to the minutes of the last meeting of the Wagon Sector Commission of the Council for Rail Transport of Community of Independent States, the Kazakh fleet totalled more than 137,000 freight cars (+1.2% since the beginning of the year) as of late June. As reported by the Association of Kazakhstan Freight Rail Carriers, the fleet’s average age is 15 years.
