ASTANA – Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Company (KTZ) President Askar Mamin said the company will create about 16,000 new jobs within the Nurly Zhol programme, that it will launch the production of Tulpar-Talgo wagons in 2016 and that it plans to export 200 Talgo passenger railcars to Iran.
KTZ President Askar Mamin at press conference at the Central Communications Service. Photo: ortcom.kz
“The head of state set the task to make Kazakhstan a trade, transport and logistics hub in the region and KTZ is the operator of this programme in the sphere of transport infrastructure development,” Mamin said during the Dec. 21 press conference at the Central Communications Service.
Nurly Zhol is an important programme to fight the economic crisis and create jobs, he said, adding that it will also help spur transit development.
Approximately 1,700 kilometres of new railway lines have been built over the last six years along with other logistics infrastructure facilities.
Mamin also noted KTZ plans to produce wider passenger railcars in Kazakhstan in 2016.
Taking into account that the Tulpar-Talgo train is rather narrow and the fact that the company wanted to make new offers to the market, the new project of a passenger railcar was developed, said Mamin.
“We will have a 30 centimetres wider new body chassis the following year. That is to say, we are planning to release several compounds with wide railcars at our factory in 2016 in Astana,” he stated.
By 2017, KTZ is also planning to launch an Astana-Urumqi daily high-speed train, serviced by a Tulpar-Talgo train, on the Astana-Almaty-Urumqi route.
The vice-president of KTZ Berik Kamaliyev also announced that the company is not planning to increase the cost of passenger tickets until the end of 2015.
According to Mamin, KTZ is also negotiating to supply 200 Talgo passenger railcars to Iran. The company has a contract for 40 electric locomotives to Azerbaijan and is considering other countries as well.
“Today, Iran is a huge market that was opened. For trials, we sent our Talgo train there. It was working for a month and received good reviews. Today, we are at the stage of negotiations regarding the export of 200 passenger railcars to the market of Iran,” Mamin stated.
He also said the company will be more efficient and updated after undergoing privatisation.
“With regard to privatisation. Tomorrow, Dec. 22, there will be a government meeting during which the list [of KTZ companies that will be subject to/put for privatasation] will be affirmed. Together with the government, we have also fulfilled the list of companies that are subject to privatisation,” Mamin said.
According to him, mainly, those [the list of companies subject to privatisation] are the company’s non-core assets and the company would like to focus on its core activities of rendering transport and logistics services.
“We see that after part of our functions are transferred and sold, the company will become more efficient and more updated and we will be able to meet challenges that confront it more adequately,” Mamin concluded.
