Ready to roam the Land of the Great Steppe: Knorr-Bremse to service braking systems of Alstom locomotive fleet in Kazakhstan

• Knorr-Bremse Russia and Alstom Kazakhstan have signed a comprehensive 25-year service agreement for up to 200 double-section freight locomotives and 95 passenger locomotives in Kazakhstan
• The service agreement was signed in Berlin on occasion of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to the German capital
• By providing brake equipment and servicing, Knorr-Bremse will help connect major cities and serve international trade routes in the world’s ninth-largest country – bolstering faster, safer and more reliable transport of goods and passengers

Knorr-Bremse, the world’s leading manufacturer of braking systems and supplier of additional subsystems for rail and commercial vehicles, has signed a comprehensive service agreement with Alstom. Until 2051, Knorr-Bremse’s RailServices unit will maintain the brake systems of up to 200 double-section freight locomotives and 95 passenger locomotives operated by Kazakhstan’s national railway company KTZ. The collaboration will help to strengthen the 2.7 million square-kilometer Central Asian country’s burgeoning role as a cross-continental hub for rail traffic.

“We are very happy to have sealed this long-term, comprehensive service agreement for the Kazakh locomotive fleet with Alstom,” says Dr. Jürgen Wilder, Member of the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse AG and responsible for the Rail Vehicle Systems division. “The agreement highlights our strong position as a competent, global aftermarket specialist and a strategic, close-to-the-customer service partner.”

“As a growing hub for rail-borne trade, Kazakhstan plays an important role in intraregional and intercontinental freight transport,” adds Harald Schneider, Member of the Management Board of Knorr-Bremse’s Rail Vehicle Systems division and responsible for the company’s presence in the CIS region. “We’re excited to be able to strengthen our position in this dynamic market and help make freight and passenger mobility faster, safer and more reliable.”

Knorr-Bremse is to provide corrective and preventive maintenance as well as supplying replacement parts for all braking system components. This includes air supply units such as compressors and air dryers, as well as brake control, distributor valves and bogie equipment. Corrective maintenance covers unscheduled repairs of defective components, while preventive maintenance includes scheduled overhauls to ensure optimum fleet availability. The agreement extends for 25 years per locomotive, and runs until 2051. In all, services will cover up to 495 mainline locomotive sections, the eldest of which entered service in 2013.

Connecting markets and people: Rail transport is a key asset in a globalized world

While rail transport of both freight and passengers is on the rise in many regions of the world, it is already the most common form of transport in Kazakhstan. Almost half of the commodities moving through the former Soviet Union’s second-largest country are rail-borne, accounting for 47.2 % of the country’s freight traffic, according to an UNECE study . As part of the Trans-Siberian Railway corridor, Kazakhstan is one of the region’s key transit countries, as well as playing a vital role in China’s “New Silk Road” initiative through Central Asia.

Knorr-Bremse and Alstom can already look back on an established partnership in the rail business. However, this joint project is their first long-term service agreement in Kazakhstan. Previously, Knorr-Bremse had only a replacement part supply contract with Alstom for Kazakh passenger locomotives, signed in 2014.