As part of their visit to Central Asia, management of SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš" and its subsidiaries, "LDZ CARGO" Ltd. and "LDZ Loģistika" Ltd., met this week with the Kazakhstan Railways management and visited Kazakh ferroalloy plant YDD to discuss transportation of its products.
SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš" Chairman of the Board Māris Kleinbergs met with Kazakhstan Railways CEO Nurlan Sauranbayev in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan to discuss possibilities of increasing transportation of Kazakh freights. Kazakhstan Railways management also expressed interest in LDz subsidiary "LDZ ritošā sastāva serviss" Ltd. experience in modernization of shunting locomotives ČME3M and mainline locomotives 2M62UM. “Currently many countries with 1,520-millimeter gauge railroads, including Kazakhstan, lack new, modern locomotives. Given that purchasing new locomotives from global manufacturers means significant investment, which companies are not always ready to make, they are interested in our service as our experience in modernization of locomotives makes it possible to deliver a refurbished locomotive at almost half the price," says SJCS "Latvijas dzelzceļš" Chairman of the Board Māris Kleinbergs.
At the invitation of Kazakh cooperation partners, SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš" Chairman of the Board Māris Kleinbergs and "LDZ CARGO" Ltd. Chairwoman of the Board Svetlana Berga met with YDD head Yerlan Nigmatulin in Karaganda on April 22 to discuss transportation of the plant's products via SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš" infrastructure and Latvian ports. YDD is one of the largest ferroalloy producers in Kazakhstan that exports its products to 49 countries on all continents.
SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš" Chairman of the Board Māris Kleinbergs: “Companies of LDz Group are currently working on various opportunities to increase turnover, looking for new markets for freight transportation, as well as offering their experience and services in locomotive modernization. We are pleased with the results of the meeting with management of the Karaganda ferroalloy plant, which in the future will very likely make it possible to increase freight transport volumes between Kazakhstan and Latvia.”
After modernization, locomotives become significantly more economical, more powerful and more comfortable for locomotive drivers, moreover, locomotive operators can offer their customers more favourable transportation tariffs, as transportation becomes more efficient. After refurbishment of diesel locomotives, their operating capacity increases by 50 percent and fuel consumption decreases by around 17 percent, reducing CO2 emissions by 15,000 tons per year.
Kazakhstan Railways' representatives will visit Latvia this coming May to inspect modernized locomotives and get acquainted with services of "LDZ ritošā sastāva serviss" Ltd.