Kazakhstan, France sign MoU to develop digital technologies for railways
During the visit of Minister of Economy and Finance of France Bruno Le Maire to Nur-Sultan, a memorandum was signed between Alstom and National Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC, Kazinform correspondent reports. In particular, the companies signed the Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of development of digital technologies for railway signaling, centralization and blocking.
During the visit, the Minister of Economy and Finance of France inspected the manufacturing workshops of Electrovoz Kurastyru Zauyty (Electric Locomotives Assembly Factory). Locomotive Z8A0008 manufactured under an agreement with Azerbaijan Railways was shown to him. According to the agreement, 50 locomotives will be manufactured for Azerbaijan Railways.
«This factory is the most visible evidence of economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and France. Partnership in the development of railways is a crucial strategic direction for our country. It is my privilege to attend the ceremony of dispatching a locomotive to be exported to Azerbaijan. We intend to continue our railway partnership, in the field of manufacturing of passenger and freight locomotives and in the field of signaling. There are signaling projects of utmost importance for us. We would like Alstom to have the opportunity to equip Kazakhstan’s railway stations with signaling systems,» Bruno Le Maire commented on the signing of the memorandum.
The memorandum targets the development of digital technology in the field of railway signaling systems so that to introduce customized engineering solutions when modernizing the systems at the top-priority railway stations by the Center for Digital Signaling Competencies, which is planned to be created in Kazakhstan in the future.
«The memorandum signed between Alstom and KTZ is mainly aimed at cooperation in the field of digitization and automation of railway transport processes. The first step is automation or signaling at major stations with a hundred or more switches. In the future, we will cooperate on railway transport digitization. As you know, several projects of our company were included in the Digital Kazakhstan Government Program,» said Batyr Kotyrev, Managing Director – Chief Engineer of NC KTZ.
The document was signed by Kanat Almagambetov, First Deputy Chairman of NC KTZ, and Didier Pfleger, Senior Vice-President of Alstom for the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia.
