PESA Bydgoszcz has signed a letter of intent to establish a tram assembly factory in the Kazakh city of Pavlodar. A recent visit by a delegation from the city’s development agency saw an order placed for two Twist 1524mm-gauge low-floor trams specially adapted to cope with the local climate; 83 more will be supplied in kit form for local assembly from 2014.

An agreement was also signed with the Polish firm Tines to upgrade the city’s tramway infrastructure, with finance from the Polish bank BGK. Pavlodar’s 86km (53.5-mile) tramway network has a 60% share of the local public transport market, but relies on 80 KTM-5 trams dating from the late 1970s/early 1980s, and five KTM-8 trams delivered in 1992.