Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 17 December 2020, a solemn ceremony was held for the presentation of modern and powerful freight and cargo-passenger locomotives supplied from China as part of the project "Renewal of the fleet of locomotives by purchasing locomotives" with the participation of the Asian Development Bank.

“We have been cooperating for a long time with the Chinese state holding company CRRC Group (China Railroad Rolling Stock Corporation),” says Khusnutdin Khasilov, chairman of the board of Uzbekiston Temir Yollari. - This is the fourth generation of electric locomotives, which are the most modern and which were assembled by order of Uzbekiston Temir Yollari, taking into account the climatic conditions of our region and its geographic features with difficult mountainous terrain.

Each of these electric locomotives, after commissioning, goes to run-in - these are preliminary tests that are associated with real transportation. We can say that by doing so they have already begun to work. Until today, two new freight locomotives have already delivered 6,500 tons of cargo from Tashkent to Jizzak and 4,500 tons of cargo have been delivered to Kashkadarya region along the most difficult mountain railway sections. In 7-10 days, each of the already delivered locomotives will start operating at full operational capacity.

It should be noted that the new locomotives differ from their predecessors, which were purchased in previous years, in that they are much more powerful and in that they are two-section - an 8-axle cargo-passenger (9,600 kW) and 12-axle freight (14,400 kW) electric locomotives. Thanks to its power, the locomotive is able to easily move from a place with a heavy freight train in any weather conditions. The service life of each locomotive is 40 years.

“The new 30 electric locomotives will employ 120 machinists and 120 machinist assistants, which means that 240 specialized specialists will be provided with employment,” says Umid Khursandov, an instructor-instructor for auto brakes at the O’zbekiston locomotive depot. - The locomotive crews are very pleased with the new technology, since the new electric locomotives are fully computerized and, in comparison with the previous generations of this technology, are quite easy to operate. They are equipped with modern security and diagnostic systems. For example, if an equipment malfunction is found along the route, a corresponding message is displayed on the on-board computer monitor, and methods of its elimination are indicated here.

It is also noteworthy that the modern technologies used in the presented locomotives, along with energy savings, also reduce fuel consumption. At present, over 50 percent of the available locomotives have been updated in the locomotive fleet of Uzbekiston Temir Yollari.