Egypt-based Aman Trading and Engineering (AT&E), said it has signed an agreement with Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), a North American company, to provide products and service support to the Egyptian National Railways (ENR).

Headquartered in Illinois, EMD designs, manufactures and sells diesel-electric locomotives for all commercial railroad applications and has sold its products in more than 70 countries worldwide.

As per the deal, the AT&E and EMD will work together on expert service training and technical support to the maintenance and operational personnel for the entire fleet of ENR locomotives in the region, said an EMD statement.

EMD said along with AT&E it has set up a roadmap of key initiatives that are important to ENR’s operational success in the long term.

These include provision of training to ENR personnel; provision of post delivery spare parts to insure high reliability and availability of locomotives and complete maintenance support to ENR, they said.

Besides this, the two firms will also help rebuild and repower older EMD locomotives to provide an additional 25 to 30 years of service.

The duo also have plans to develop potential locomotive sales and service opportunities in other regional areas such as Libya and Iraq, said John Hamilton, the EMD president and chief executive officer.

Expressing delight at having an experienced partner in Egypt, Hamilton said, 'I am confident that EMD along with its new partner Aman Trading and Engineering have the resources and the expertise to make ENR’s future visions a reality.”

Founded in 1922, EMD, a subsidiary of Progress Rail Services, a Caterpillar Company, is one of two US original equipment manufacturers of diesel-electric locomotives.

The company is the only diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer to have produced more than 70,000 engines and has the largest installed base of diesel-electric locomotives in both North America and internationally, he added.-TradeArabia News Service