The head of the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia), Volodymyr Zhmak, sees no need to purchase more diesel locomotives manufactured by the U.S.-based Wabtec Corporation (previously supplied by General Electric), the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
"Regarding the cooperation with General Electric, I currently see no need for further purchase of General Electric diesel locomotives. Our goal is to switch to electric locomotives because they are much more economical," he said at a press conference.
As the CFTS portal reported earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia has discussed an agreement for the supply of an additional 40 diesel locomotives with its American partners.
At a recent meeting with the French-based Alstom railway equipment and rolling stock manufacturer’s CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Zhmak said that Ukrzaliznytsia was currently interested in 50 dual-system electric locomotives capable of transporting between 5,500 and 6,000 tons of cargo. "We need these locomotives together with a long-term technical maintenance system and localization of production in Ukraine. At the second stage, we are interested in obtaining single-system locomotives," he said during talks.
