Kazakhstan: One of the most notable events for the global locomotive market in 2025 was a package of locomotive supply and service agreements signed between American manufacturer Wabtec and Kazakhstan’s national operator, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), worth $4.2 bln. Presidents Donald Trump and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev both took an interest in the deal, underlining how much is at stake in the Central Asian market, where competition has sharpened since China’s CRRC arrived on the scene. Wabtec’s new-generation TE33AT locomotive answers that Chinese expansion directly, while also helping the company cement its position on the 1,520 mm gauge network as new markets open up.
ROLLINGSTOCK has reviewed detailed technical specifications for the new TE33AT, which Wabtec is preparing to put into production at its Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty (LKZ) plant in Astana. Current contracts with KTZ call for 300 locomotives to reach the operator’s fleet by 2036.
Wabtec built the TE33AT on its well-established Evolution Series platform, known in CIS markets as the TE33A and TE33AS. More than 10,000 Evolution Series locomotives now run worldwide, over 700 of them on the 1,520 mm gauge network — in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. Years of operation in temperatures ranging from -50°C to +50°C have proven the platform’s traction efficiency, and its deployment has lifted both the volume and quality of freight operations.
CRRC, meanwhile, has been making inroads onto the 1,520 mm gauge network through a KTZ order for its new TE36A locomotive. Based on the FXN3C, already running in China, the TE36A entered series production at the Dalian plant only recently; fewer than 100 units exist worldwide, most of them on the domestic Chinese market. KTZ has nonetheless ordered 100 TE36A units, with deliveries under way since 2025.
Wabtec designed the TE33AS back in 2007-2008 — at the time, the first single-section six-axle locomotive of its generation anywhere on the 1,520 mm gauge network. Evolution Series locomotives elsewhere carry an axle load of up to 28 or 32 tf, but KTZ, as the platform’s main CIS customer, needed that figure cut to 23 tf because of infrastructure limits at the time. Years of investment in track renewal have since let KTZ substantially upgrade its track superstructure, and axle load requirements have risen to 25 tf — a figure now built into both the TE36A and the TE33AT.
Key traction advantages
Wabtec expects to build the first TE33AT unit by the end of 2027. Like the TE33AS, it will run an AC-AC transmission with an asynchronous traction motor and axle-by-axle control — the same arrangement used on the TE36A. Both new locomotives, from CRRC and from Wabtec, gain extra scope for tractive effort through a 7% increase in adhesive weight over the TE33AS.
Wabtec’s LKZ-built locomotives also carry its Advanced Rail Cleaner system, which uses a jet of compressed air to clean the railhead ahead of the leading wheelset. This lifts the coefficient of adhesion by a further 3-5% in poor weather and cuts the risk of wheelslip.
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The TE33AT will run the 12-cylinder GEVO12 engine at 3,356 kW, paired with a Common Rail high-pressure fuel system. GEVO12 engines combine high power with economical fuel consumption, low emissions and a simple, durable design, backed by advanced electronic control — qualities that have proven themselves across more than 10,000 locomotives worldwide. On the 1,520 mm gauge network, these engines have powered TE33AS and 2(3)TE25K2M locomotives since 2009, earning strong feedback from operators.
Render of Wabtec’s prospective TE33AT locomotive for Kazakhstan
Built to Stage II emissions standards, the engines have already helped KTZ sharply improve its environmental footprint: direct CO₂ emissions from its TE33A and TE33AS fleet fell 19%, from 2.5 mln t in 2013 to 2.0 mln t in 2021.
Fuel efficiency remains the GEVO12’s standout strength — nothing on the 1,520 mm gauge network currently matches it. Even CRRC’s 12V265C engine on the TE36A hasn’t managed to beat it. And that’s before the TE33AT’s own GEVO12 gets its planned upgrades: the engine has already cut specific fuel consumption across KTZ’s fleet by more than 42%, from 42 to 24 kg.
Much of that advantage in the TE33AT comes down to the Common Rail high-pressure fuel system:
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- A common fuel rail. Common Rail draws fuel through a separate high-pressure pump into a shared rail, which then feeds the cylinder injectors — unlike older systems, where each injector generates its own pressure at the moment of injection.
- High fuel pressure (up to 200-250 MPa). Generated independently of engine speed and held constant, this allows more precise, multiple injections within a single cycle.
- Flexibility and cleaner running. Common Rail improves fuel-air mixing and cuts smoke and NOx emissions, meeting GOST 33754-2016 requirements.
Common Rail on the GEVO12 will also trim cycle fuel consumption on TE33AT locomotives by a further 4% compared with the TE33AS fleet.
Localisation and maintenance
Wabtec has worked in Kazakhstan since 1996, building up local production at LKZ since 2009. The Astana plant has now turned out more than 700 locomotives for passenger and freight service, with localisation at 40% and still climbing.
A key piece of the new Wabtec-KTZ agreements is bringing GEVO12 engine production to the country — the first time Wabtec will build these engines outside the United States. Production is planned at the Astana Diesel Service facility, which already handles major overhauls of the engines.
Diesel engine in a Wabtec TE33AS locomotive. Source: perevozka24
Wabtec has also built out seven service centres across Kazakhstan, delivering round-the-clock support, a reliable stock of spare parts and a skilled workforce proven on the ground. The result: technical availability for Wabtec’s TE33AS fleet at KTZ now runs at 95%, with downtime six to eight times lower than other locomotive series.
Wabtec’s push to bring a new locomotive generation to Kazakhstan, alongside localising production of critical components, signals a clear strategic bet on the 1,520 mm gauge network — driven both by rising competition from Chinese manufacturers and the sheer scale of demand still ahead.
With the TE33AT in its portfolio and manufacturing capacity already in place in Astana, Wabtec is well positioned to keep expanding across this network, where fleet renewal needs are still counted in the hundreds of locomotives.
