Russia to Allocate 7 M USD to Support Shunting Loco Acquisitions

Russia may provide subsidies to companies acquiring industrial diesel locomotives and diesel generator freight cars, the Gudok reports. A respective proposal was drafted by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The document may come into force in May 2017. In August 2017 the so-called transition period of the Customs Union Technical Regulations No. 001/2011 will expire. The said Technical Regulations cover compliance of the rolling stock required to be allowed for operation within the Eurasian Union and. In compliance with the transition period rules, by August 2017 owners of industrial rolling stock have to modernize their fleet and re-certify it. Otherwise they will not be able to operate the rolling stock with exceeded service life. However, the re-certification is a rather complicated and costly project compared even to rolling stock overhaul.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade would likes to allocate 400 M RUB (6.8 M USD) for subsidizing locomotive acquisitions by industrial companies. This is to cover shunting locomotives, industrial electric locomotives, diesel generator freight cars (7 M RUB = 120 K USD per locomotive or car), traction module (2 M RUB = 34 K RUB per module) and shunting electric locomotives (500 K RUB = 8,500 USD per locomotive).

Russia’s industrial companies own around 11,000 shunting and industrial locomotives with 80% requiring replacement.