Stadler ready to resume production in Belarus after lifting of sanctions

Stadler, Swiss manufacturer of rolling stock for railways, is ready to restart its plant in Belarus after the lifting of sanctions, the semi-annual report of the company states. The document was recently brought to the attention of Reform.by.

The report says that Russia's war against Ukraine "and related sanctions against Belarus continue to affect Stadler and the plant in Fanipal". However, it has been decided to keep the plant and reopen it as soon as the sanctions are lifted. The reasons given for this are the very good order situation, the high capacity utilization of other group companies, and the high level of competence and quality that Fanipal offers in terms of added value.

The report also states that the company continues to provide body and component manufacturing and engineering services. At the same time, all sanctions are being strictly enforced.

After the start of the war, in March last year, the chairman of the board of directors of the company, Peter Spuhler, said that the sanctions deprived the plant in Belarus of access to European electronic components. They are used, for example, in train air conditioning, information systems. But even then, he said, there were no plans to close the plant in Belarus.  This summer, the media again discussed the possibility of Stadler leaving Belarus. Then it emerged that production had been reduced, but the plant was still implementing projects for the manufacture and delivery of railway cars for Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, as well as service maintenance of equipment for electric trains purchased by Belarusian Railways. And "the level of wages at the plant is quite high for this region," the Community of Railwaymen noted at the time.