MOSCOW, July 24 The largest Russian manufacturer of passenger cars Transmashholding (TMH) has ceased production of EP20 passenger electric locomotives, created together with Alstom, and will produce completely Russian EP4 0, Kirill Lipa, CEO of the company, said in an interview.
“In order to assemble (EP20 – ed.) – there are problems, because there the traction system is from Alstom. Naturally, it stopped all deliveries. Because traction systems are under sanctions,” Lipa said on the eve of the Russia-Africa forum.
To a clarifying question whether the production of EP20 will be discontinued, the head of the company replied: «Completely.»
TMH, Lipa noted, will make the next generation of passenger locomotives anew. «We are currently developing a traction drive. This will be a drive system for all the rolling stock that we produce. We have developed a unique Russian asynchronous traction drive for the 2S5S electric freight locomotive. A certificate has already been received. It was completely made together with Horizont, a Yekaterinburg company that developed this drive together with us. Therefore, we have no problems with this,» says the TMH CEO.
He recalled that the contract for 200 EP20 electric locomotives of Russian Railways was concluded for the Olympics, which were held in Sochi in 2014. «This locomotive was purchased to drive double-decker trains from St. Petersburg to Adler. Since they are heavy and there is rough terrain, accordingly, a very powerful electric locomotive was needed. Russian Railways bought more than 50 EP20s and gradually began to slow down the pace of purchases, since, apparently, there is no need for these electric locomotives. Therefore, we did not develop and Russify,» Lipa explained.
The head of the holding said that the new fully Russian passenger locomotive will be called EP40. The company is currently determining with Russian Railways when it will appear.
«We have a certain sequence of development of the product portfolio. But I want to emphasize that the asynchronous electric locomotive has already been developed, a certificate for it has been received, pilot copies have been made and are in operation. These locomotives are in the order for 2023. Therefore, if Russian Railways, as a customer, sets this priority, then there will be a passenger electric locomotive. Not in 2024, but in 2025 it will definitely be on the network. That is, I have no doubts about this This is a matter of purely task prioritization,” said Lipa.
The interview took place on the eve of the second summit and economic and humanitarian forum «Russia — Africa». It will be held in St. Petersburg on July 27-28. acts as an information partner of the event.