The General Electric and Bombardier companies intend to test their locomotives in Ukraine. The locomotives will be operated on the Ukrzaliznytsia public railway company’s rail networks for several months, Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian announced in an interview on Wednesday.
"Manufacturers like General Electric, Bombardier… They will bring their locomotives to Ukraine in the next month or two for experimental operation on Ukrainian railways for 3-6 months. We will test them [to determine] the extent to which they are suitable to our conditions, what will happen to them," the minister said.
According to Omelian, manufacturers of railway equipment are generally very interested in the Ukrainian market, but Ukrzaliznytsia needs to provide clear guidance on purchase of locomotives.
"Their only condition is this: ‘give us a program for at least 3-5 years so that we can understand that we are opening a joint venture here, we are manufacturing our products in Ukraine, but Ukrzaliznytsia is buying it in certain volumes.’ They want to see predictability,” the minister said.
It was reported in autumn last year that Ukrzaliznytsia would also receive one locomotive (a Vectron model) from Siemens for testing. However, it has not been reported whether the locomotive has been delivered.
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