Kazakhstan: Together with the production site, the manufacturer will receive an order for 500 units of rolling stock. The financial aspects of the deal are now under discussion, although the competition has been going on since 2020.
The Managing Finance Director of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) Dair Kusherov reported on the course of negotiations between the national railway operator and the manufacturer, DKNews agency writes. According to him, the possibility of providing financing guarantees to the Swiss manufacturer for 10 years is now being discussed. Stadler is interested in it, however, KTZ notes regulatory restrictions for the implementation of such financing, since state support is still allocated to KTZ based on annual state decisions. “We are now thinking together with the fund, the government, about how to implement this”, Kusherov is quoted by DKNews.
In the summer of 2020, KTZ announced a tender for the sale of the Tulpar plant, which was established jointly with the Spanish Talgo in 2011 to organize the assembly and supply of the manufacturer’s rolling stock to Kazakhstan. The terms of the tender assume that, together with the plant, the winner will receive a contract for the supply of almost 470 passenger coaches of various types, as well as 26 power station cars. Dair Kusherov noted that Stadler plans to localize production by 35%. It was planned to name the winner of the competition and sign the contract back in 2021, but no decisions have been published at the moment. During this time, Stadler has already signed a strategic cooperation agreement with KTZ for $100 mln USD.
Tulpar plant in Kazakhstan. Source: Bi Group
KTZ has been trying to sell the plant for several years. In 2019, Deputy Chairman of the KTZ Board, Serik Abdenov, said that Tver Carriage Works (TVZ, part of Transmashholding), Kryukov Railway Car Building Works (KRCBW) and Chinese manufacturers also showed interest in Tulpar. Also in 2019, the plant was transferred unded the management of TMH, and more than 200 passenger cars were assembled at the plat, the wagon sets for which were supplied by TVZ. In 2021, in an interview with RBC TV, TMH CEO Kirill Lipa confirmed that the Russian manufacturer also participates in the competition.
