One of the priorities of the Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) in 2019 will be resolution of the issue of renewal the company’s fleet of electric locomotives, demand for which could range from 400 to 700 in Ukraine over the next decade.
Ukrzaliznytsia’s acting Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov announced this during “Infrastructure Day” at the European Business Association on Tuesday, November 27, the CFTS correspondent reports
Kravtsov said that Ukrzaliznytsia was considering various configurations of electric locomotives: two-section, one-section, eight-axle, and six-axle electric locomotives.
“According to our calculations, about 400-700 electric locomotives will be needed over the next 10 years, which will depend on availability of funds. This is the projected demand from our side,” said Kravtsov.
Earlier, Kravtsov said that Ukrzaliznytsia would need 200 electric locomotives in the next seven years and 500 in the next 10 years.
As reported earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia signed a memorandum of cooperation with the CRRC company (China) in September. The Chinese company is offering Ukrzaliznytsia the option of switching to single-section, six-axle electric locomotives. Alstom, another company with which Ukrzaliznytsia signed a memorandum on September 19, is offering two-section electric locomotives that are designed for pulling heavier trains.
“The government will begin a strategic partnership with either the CRRC or Alstom, just like it has with the General Electric company, by the end of this year. There will be a competition between the two companies and the stronger will win,” Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Viktor Dovhan said in late September.
As the CFTS portal reported, Ukrzaliznytsia had a fleet of 3,566 locomotives, including 1,258 shunting locomotives, 550 passenger locomotives, and 1,758 freight locomotives as of September 1, 2018. Only 287 out of the 550 passenger locomotives and 945 out of the 1,758 freight locomotives are in operation.
