Got this off of Badlands Media feed. Looks like the locomotive builders will be busy soon. Maybe there might even be a new builder open up shop. Be nice to see some modern day Alco's.
"US President Donald Trump on Monday announced that Kazakhstan signed a $4 billion deal to purchase American locomotives and rail equipment, calling it "the largest railroad equipment purchase in history" following his phone call with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
"They have signed the largest Railroad Equipment Purchase in History, $4 Billion Dollars Worth of United States Locomotives and Rail Equipment. We need to support our U.S. Rail Industry, which has been attacked by Fake Environmentalists for years," Trump wrote on the US social media company Truth Social, congratulating Tokayev on the agreement.
Earlier in the day, Tokayev met with US Presidential Special Envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gore in New York, congratulating him on his appointment and pledging support for his mission.
He reaffirmed Kazakhstan's commitment to advancing the Kazakh-American strategic partnership, emphasizing the country's role as Washington's main economic partner in Central Asia. – AA"
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Interesting, if anything actually comes from it. China very much wants a standard gauge rail connection to Europe that avoids Russia. The Russian gauge 1520 mm doesn't allow dual-gauge operation with 1435mm (North America, China, Iran, Turkey and most of Europe) using standard rails. So the Chinese are likely angling for a parallel standard gauge track through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Which will make Putin furious, but unable to do much about it.
Chinese have been very aggressive in rail equipment and infrastructure building.