Ukrzaliznytsya requests OK from EBRD for 400 more railcars

Ukrzaliznytsya, Ukraine’s state-owned monopoly railway operator, requested approval from the European Bank for Reconstruction to buy an additional 400 freight railcars under an existing loan agreement (USD 62.5 mln, part which has already been spent to purchase 1 ths railcars), Ukrzaliznytsya Deputy Director Artem Lazne said yesterday, according to Interfax. Lazne said that if approved, a tender for the 400 railcars would be conducted this year and delivery would be due in 2010. According to Interfax, Ukrzaliznytsya is now negotiating with the EBRD for a second loan of USD 62.5 mln for additional rolling stock. Yegor Samusenko: We think the order for 400 more railcars would be distributed equally between the four local producers as was done with the 1 ths railcars tender. Then, the order receivers were Dniprovahonmash (DNVM), Azovmash (AZGM, MZVM), Stakhaniv Wagon (SVGZ) and Kryukiv Wagon (KVBZ). We estimate the impact of the order at 5-10% of 2009E sales for the wagon producers, with its effect the highest for the smallest manufacturer – Dniprovahonmash – and the lowest for Azovmash.