Local firm to manufacture train sections

KARABÜK/ISTANBUL

Turkish iron and steel producer Kardemir Karabük Iron and Steel Co announced that one of its units, Kardökmak, had signed a preliminary contract with a foreign company to carry out a project for the production of locomotives and wagon wheels, in a statement to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).
It did not disclose the company’s name.

The project will be carried out over 32 months, Kardemir said, adding that the final agreement would be signed in two weeks.

The company plans to invest around $140 million in the new facility with an annual output capacity of 200,000, Anadolu Agency reported this week. “There has been no facility to produce locomotives and wagon wheels in Turkey until now, so ours will be a first,” said Fadıl Demirel, general manager of Kardemir, adding that the planned facility was expected to be operational by next year.

Kardemir’s new investment plans have been welcomed among its investors, and the price of Kardemir shares increased following the statement at the beginning of the week.