Russian Railways can cut locomotive purchases to 430–450 from ‘17

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (PRIME) -- Russian Railways plans to optimize the locomotive fleet and to reduce annual purchases to 430–450 a year from 2017 from 500 in 2015 and 507 in 2016, Vice President Oleg Valinsky said at a roundtable talk on Wednesday.

“We need to revise the locomotive purchasing program downwards starting from 2017, taking into account the fact that the used park will be slightly wider since all locomotives will work,” Valinsky said.

“The first thing we will do, we will write off everything that is guaranteed not to run any longer. Second, will raise the repair plans.”

He said that Russian Railways had 20,871 locomotives as of January 1, of which only 14,500 are used. Valinsky said that the locomotive fleet of Russian Railways will decline to about 17,500 by 2020, while the tear and wear will decrease to 62% from 68%.

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