Uzbekistan: Two EMUs will begin trial operation, the Minister of Transport Ilhom Mahkamov announced at a session of the upper house of parliament. According to him, a decision on further purchases will be made after the trials. No other details have been given.
In September, Mr Mahkamov held talks with Alexander Luft, Managing Partner of Stadler CIS, on the possibility of acquiring electric trains and localising their production in Uzbekistan.
Last October, the national operator Uzbekiston Temir Yollari placed an order with Škoda Group for 30 four-car EMUs. The contract with the Czech producer provides for partial localisation of production. It was expected that the trains would be built at Škoda Group’s plant in Ostrava from this year, but so far there has been no news on the fulfilment of the contract and the producer did not respond to ROLLINGSTOCK’s enquiry.
In March this year, the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was presented with a project to set up its own production of electric trains at the Tashkent plant for the construction and repair of passenger cars. No further news on this project has been released either.
