By Jim Martin
jim.martin@timesnews.com
 

The slow times that have long been common in the locomotive industry are nowhere in sight today for Erie-based GE Transportation.

Parent company General Electric Corp. is expected to sign a $650 million contract today to supply Kazakhstan National Railway with 310 Evolution Series locomotives.

That deal -- expected to be sealed at 10 a.m. today at the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington, D.C. -- represents GE's largest ever order for locomotives delivered outside North America.

It also represents further exploration of a new business model.

While the first 10 locomotives will be built at the company's Lawrence Park plant and delivered in 2008, most of the remaining 300 units will be assembled at a newly built, state-owned plant in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.

Those locomotives will be built using engines built at the company's Grove City plant. Other key components, including cooling systems and traction motors, will be built in Erie.

Among those expected to be present at today's signing are John Dineen, chief executive of GE Transportation, and Erlan Atamkulov, president of Kazakhstan National Railway, known as Kazakhstan Temir Zholy or KTZ.


"By choosing Evolution Series locomotives, KTZ is investing in the very best technology available," Dineen said. "I am proud that KTZ and GE are extending our relationship, one that has proven to be very beneficial to both organizations over several years."

That relationship dates to the mid-1990s, but accelerated in 2003 when GE won the first of several contracts for modernization kits that update older locomotives.

This new order is for the state-of-the-art Evolution series locomotives that cut fuel consumption 3 percent to 5 percent and slash emissions by more than 40 percent.

The locomotives, more than 1,000 of which have now been built, are part of GE's environmentally friendly Ecomagination initiative.

"We eagerly await the day when GE Evolution series locomotives begin operation in Kazakhstan," Atamkulov said in a prepared statement.

The Evolutions that will be shipped to Kazakhstan and then assembled there between 2008 and 2012 will boast the same efficiency and low emissions as those built for use in North America.

But they will look different. GE spokesman Patrick Jarvis said the units will be specifically for the Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics, where they will be used primarily for pulling freight trains.

And unlike their counterparts now being built in Erie, these locomotives will have dual cabs and an interior walkway bridging both ends of the machine.

In May, when GE Transportation announced the shipment of its 1,000th Evolution, Dineen said he had seen interest from customers in India, Kazakhstan and Brazil.

"We are finding that not only is (the Evolution) a successful platform in the United States, but it's generating a heck of a lot of interest around the world," he said at the time.


Although the Evolution was originally designed for use in the United States and Canada, Jarvis said the company now has an order for 300 Evolutions for China, as well as orders from Australia and Mexico and the order for Kazakhstan.

Those orders hint at the Evolution's global acceptance, he said. The Lawrence Park plant, which is on track to produce about 850 locomotives this year, has an order backlog of about 1,500 units.

While company officials have repeatedly said that they have no plans for dramatic increases in local employment -- now at about 4,500 --- Jarvis said this latest order bodes well for the future.

"What it really translates to is increased job security and competitiveness," he said. "Our goal has been to even out the cycles that industry is quite famous for."

Officials of United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers Local 506, the plant's largest labor union, could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.


Jake Rouch, chief executive of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, greeted the news with enthusiasm.

"Whenever your largest employer lands a big order, the whole community should celebrate," he said. "They are getting stronger and solidifying their place in the community."

Regardless of whether those locomotives are built entirely in Erie, expanding the market is a good thing, he said. "It means good things for the Erie community."

courtesy of Times News