The General Electric Company announced on 28 September that it has signed a contract to supply 310 new Evolution Series locomotives for Kazakhstan's national railway company, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ).

The locomotives will be used to help KTZ move record amounts of freight by rail, driven in large part to strong demand for transit, intermodal traffic and petroleum products. "By choosing Evolution Series locomotives, KTZ is investing in the very best technology available," said John Dineen, President and CEO of GE Transportation. "I am proud that KTZ and GE are extending our relationship, one that has proven to be very beneficial to both organizations over the past several years." Under terms of the contract, GE will manufacture and ship 10 Evolution locomotives in 2008. The 10 units will be made at GE Transportation's locomotive manufacturing facility in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Production and delivery of key components for 300 additional locomotives will take place from 2008 through 2012, with final assembly taking place at a new locomotive assembly plant in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan Evolution locomotives will be the first Evolution locomotives to be delivered outside of North America and will be the most environmentally clean diesel locomotives in the CIS region. Total value of the contract is more than $650 million.

This announcement was made during a contract signing ceremony at the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington US. Present at the ceremony was Marat Medeubayev, President of Lokmotiv-leasing, LLP and KTZ President, Dr. Erlan Atamkulov. "Our relationship with General Electric dates back several years now," stated Dr. Atamkulov. "KTZ contracted with GE to modernize more than 400 locomotives in its fleet and now we eagerly await the day when GE Evolution Series locomotives begin operation in Kazakhstan." GE's Evolution Series locomotive and GE's locomotive modernization program are both "ecomagination" products. Ecomagination(SM) is a GE initiative to bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet their most pressing environmental challenges.

The Evolution Series locomotives will be specially designed for operation in Kazakhstan and the entire CIS region. The dual-cab locomotives will have an interior walkway bridging both ends of the locomotive. The units will be powered by GE's 12-cylinder GEVO engine, manufactured in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Traction motors on each of the six axles will be AC powered, a first for the CIS region. The technology will be superior to any locomotive currently operating in the CIS region. Evolution Series locomotives achieve a 3-5% fuel savings over the previous generation of GE locomotives and reduce emissions by more than 40%. The locomotives were the first to meet the United States EPA's Tier II emissions standards and they were among the first products in GE's Ecomagination portfolio.